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LOURDES SCHOOL QUEZON CITY

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL


Kanlaon Cor. Don Manuel Sts., Sta. Mesa Heights, 1114 Quezon City

RESEARCH AREA FOR PURE AND


APPLIED SCIENCES

VACCINE CONFIDENCE OF LOURDES SCHOOL


COMMUNITY TOWARDS COVID-19 VACCINES

Supervised by: A research project presented by students


MR. NEIL PATRICK R. LACUNA, RMT under the Science, Technology and
Promoter Mathematics Strand:
JOSELITO U. DOMINGO
REYNATO L. PERILLA III
RAFAEL JAMES H. TORRES
CHAYENE GRACE C. VICTORIA

Quezon City, 2021


PROMOTER’S RECOMMENDATION

To the Members of the Panel of Examiners:

Upon review and evaluation of the research project titled

VACCINE CONFIDENCE OF

LOURDES SCHOOL COMMUNITY TOWARDS

COVID-19 VACCINES

by the following researchers project proponents

JOSELITO U. DOMINGO

REYNATO L. PERILLA III

RAFAEL JAMES H. TORRES

CHAYENE GRACE C. VICTORIA

and having found it satisfactory in content and form and adhering to the standards set in the Research
Guide of Lourdes School Quezon City Senior High School, I hereby recommend the work for

APPROVAL BY THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS AND


COMPLETION OF REQUIREMENTS SET FOR THE
RESEARCH PROJECT COURSE

MR. NEIL PATRICK R. LACUNA, RMT


Promoter

April 28, 2021


Running Head: VACCINE CONFIDENCE

VACCINE CONFIDENCE OF THE LOURDES SCHOOL COMMUNITY TOWARDS

COVID-19 VACCINES

by

DOMINGO, JOSELITO U.

PERILLA, REYNATO L. III

TORRES, RAFAEL JAMES H.

VICTORIA, CHAYENE GRACE C.

APPROVED:

DR. LUCILA C. POSADAS

Examiner

MR. CARLO R. DELA CRUZ, LPT, MST

Subject Teacher
VACCINE CONFIDENCE

ABSTRACT

Vaccines and immunizations have been created to provide long term immunity to people who are

vaccinated against diseases by imitating an infection. With the ongoing pandemic, this paper

strived to measure the vaccine confidence of Lourdes School Quezon City (LSQC) community

towards the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Vaccine. This paper used a mixed method to answer the

research questions regarding the levels of vaccine confidence and the factors affecting the

vaccine confidence within the community. The results appeared that the levels of vaccine

confidence of the community are no vaccine hesitancy and acceptors with doubt. This means that

they are more than willing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. As reflected in the survey

results, 87.8% of the population agreed to the COVID-19 vaccine, while the remaining 13.2%

were unsure of its safety. Moreover, health and safety, protection for themselves and other

people, information from other sources, lack of information, and the vaccine manufacturers were

the five identified factors affecting the vaccine confidence of the community.

Keywords: COVID-19, 2019 Novel Coronavirus, Vaccine, Immunization, Disease, Health,

Vaccine Confidence, Vaccine Hesitancy, Vaccine Manufacturers, Pandemic

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researchers would like to acknowledge the following for leading the modest success of this

humble paper:

Lourdes School Quezon City for six years of quality education and holistic development. The

faculty and staff for being the principal contributors to the formation of values and excellence of

the students.

The 106 participants of the Lourdes School Quezon City community, for their enthusiasm and

willingness in answering the survey and participating in the Focus Group Discussion interview.

This achievement has been made possible by them.

Mr. Carlo Dela Cruz, their beloved research teacher, for guiding the researchers and always

reminding them to persevere. For showing his continuous support through unfaltering

enthusiasm, ceaseless patience, and immense knowledge. May he receive blessings in a thousand

folds.

The panelist and the promoter, Dra. Lucila C. Posadas and Mr. Neil Partcik R. Lacuna, RMT, for

evaluating the paper critically and giving out constructive comments and suggestions for the

further enhancement of the research. May they continue guiding future researchers for the further

prosperity of academia.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

The class of 12-Wisdom for giving out a good and memorable school year. For sharing their

knowledge and lending their hand to help others. May they all achieve successes and learn from

their failures.

The families and friends of the researchers for giving out all the love and support, sacrifices, and

understanding that have made the researchers who they are today, and for always been a major

source of support when things get a bit discouraging. They have been always encouraging to let

the researchers explore new directions in life and seek their own destiny. This journey would not

have been possible if not for them. This milestone is dedicated to them.

Lastly, God, the Father, for the gift of life and knowledge. For also giving them light through the

dark times in life. The glory is all His.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

LIST OF DIAGRAMS/ GRAPHS/ FIGURES/ ETC.

NUMBER DESCRIPTION
Tables
1 COVID-19 Vaccines
2 Schedule for the COVID-19 vaccines’ arrival
3 Data results of Question 1
4 Data results of Question 2
5 Students’ Vaccine Confidence
6 Alumni’s Vaccine Confidence
7 Parents’ Vaccine Confidence
8 Employees’ Vaccine Confidence
9 Results to which COVID-19 vaccine/s is/are safe and effective
Figures
1 Sage Working Group Model, SAGE Working Group (WHO, 2014)
2 3C’s Model of Vaccine Hesitancy, SAGE Working Group (WHO, 2014)
3 Conceptual Framework

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ABBREVIATION TITLE
LSQC Lourdes School Quezon City
WHO World Health Organization
COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease 2019
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
US United States
UK United Kingdom
SAGE Strategic Advisory Group of Experts
FGD Focus Group Discussion
DNA Deoxynucleic Acid

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EPI Expanded Programme in Immunization


HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HCG Human Chorionic Gonadotropin
NIID National Institute of Infectious Diseases
WEF World Economic Forum
SWS Social Weather Stations
NCR National Capital Region
PCOO Presidential Communications Operations Office
PFV Philippine Foundation for Vaccination
DOH Department of Health
NIH National Institutes of Health
mRNA Messenger Ribonucleic Acid
VCP Vaccine Confidence Project
PHAP Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Association of the Philippines
EUA Emergency Use Authorization
FDA Food and Drug Administration

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

CHAPTER 1: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Vaccines and immunizations have been created to provide long term immunity to people

who are vaccinated against diseases by imitating an infection. According to the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2018), these infections almost never cause the illness

itself, but it causes the immune system of the individual to produce T-lymphocytes and

antibodies to combat possible contractions of a certain disease in the future. In order to

understand how vaccines combat diseases, it is necessary to understand first how the immune

system combats illnesses. When foreign invaders (e.g. bacteria, germs, and viruses) enter an

individual’s system, they multiply and attack certain parts of the body. The immune system fights

this by using white blood cells or immune cells to fight the infection. As reported by the CDC,

white blood cells consist primarily of macrophages, B-lymphocytes, and T-lymphocytes (2018).

During the immunization process, individuals may feel minor symptoms that are linked

to the disease the vaccine is trying to combat such as fever because vaccines imitate an infection

but do not cause the full-blown illness itself. However, these symptoms are expected and normal

as the immune system develops T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes to build immunity. There are

people who support the idea of developing natural immunity from acquiring the disease itself

because it is allegedly better than immunity provided by vaccines. However, the process of

developing natural immunity can be deadly due to certain diseases that can cause severe

complications within an individual. Although vaccines can cause side effects like any other

medication, these side effects are mild in nature and go away relatively easy.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

Present day issues around vaccinations were said to have an impact in the expressions of

the public concerns and sense of uncertainty of the people. According to the World Health

Organization (WHO) (n.d.), ‘Vaccine Hesitancy’ is defined as the delay in acceptance or refusal

of vaccines despite availability of vaccine services. Moreover, vaccine hesitant individuals are

defined as a group of people that are in the middle of “a continuum ranging from total

acceptance to complete refusal”. These individuals either refuse and delay vaccines or they agree

to other vaccines and accept taking it but they are unsure as to why they are doing so. However,

there are concerns that were raised from the SAGE (Strategic Advisory Group of Experts)

Working Group (WHO, 2014) about the term ‘hesitancy’, they argued that it gives negative

connotation and it might send the wrong signal. Therefore, the most common alternative term to

that is ‘confidence’, which is a more positive word. In line with this, according to US

Department of Health and Human Services (n.d.), ‘Vaccine Confidence’ is the trust that the

parents, patients, or providers have in terms of recommended vaccines, its providers such as the

health services and health professionals, and the processes and policies that lead to vaccine

development, licensure, manufacturing and recommendations for use.” With that being said,

vaccine confidence is highly relevant in the current matter.

Now that the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has changed the world, many

scientists and health organizations are trying to conceptualize a vaccine. As of February 2021,

different pharmaceutical companies have produced their own version of a COVID-19 vaccine,

with each vaccine varying in efficacy rates, dosages, storage requirements, and price ranges.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

1.2 Statement of the Problem

With the emergence of a COVID-19 vaccine, there was a research conducted by Funk

and Tyson (2020), in the United States, stating that there was a sudden rise in the percentage of

Americans having an intent to get the COVID-19 vaccine as the confidence in the research and

development process increases. In this regard, there were research papers that contributed

certainly to the profound understanding of vaccine confidence; however, there was limited

research conducted in the Philippine setting towards the COVID-19 vaccine.

With this, the study aimed to measure the level of vaccine confidence of the Lourdes

School Quezon City (LSQC) Community towards the COVID-19 vaccine. As a result, this

deepened the community's knowledge regarding the specified vaccine. Hence, the researchers

seek to answer the following questions:

1. What is the level of vaccine confidence awareness of Lourdes School Quezon City

community?

2. What are the factors affecting vaccine confidence within the Lourdes School Quezon City

community?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The overall objective of this study was mainly to identify and measure the level of

vaccine confidence of the Lourdesian community most especially in times of the health crisis

that the world is currently facing. Moreover, this paper answered the research questions with

specific objectives of:

a. To deepen the knowledge of the individuals that are part of the Lourdes School

Community about vaccine confidence;

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

b. To define the topic of vaccine confidence appropriately in high schools specifically

Lourdes School;

c. To inform the Lourdesian Community regarding the topic of vaccines, and;

d. To know the factors affecting the confidence of vaccine usage within the Lourdes School

Quezon City community.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The study became significant because of the current situation the country and the whole

world is going through today. As of December 2020, there is an ongoing pandemic and a vaccine

is needed more than ever. However, due to various misconceptions regarding vaccines and the

past issues that surround it, people were still hesitant to get vaccinated. An example of such

controversy was the dengvaxia issue in the Philippines, wherein this issue made people hesitant

in trusting the efficacy of vaccines. This was why this research aimed to measure the vaccine

confidence of the Lourdesian community using a survey questionnaire and gather their overall

perceptions regarding the topic through a focus group discussion (FGD). The beneficiary of the

research was the health services sector of the Lourdes School Quezon City. By knowing the

perceptions of the individuals in the Lourdes School community, the health services of the

institution may offer the vaccine for the 2019 novel coronavirus aside from the one being offered

annually, the flu vaccine. Aside from the LSQC community’s health services sector, the general

public, along with all candidates for vaccination, would also benefit from the study as this will

provide imperative information regarding the importance of vaccination and vaccine confidence.

The data gathered in this study could also be the basis for the community since there is a

lack of studies that discusses the vaccine confidence of people towards the 2019 novel

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coronavirus vaccines. Since there is still a global pandemic, the topic of this research paper is

timely and appropriate for the current dilemma the world is facing.

1.5 Scope and Limitations of the Study

The research focused on the vaccine confidence of a community in the Philippines,

therefore, the community of Lourdes School Quezon City (LSQC) were the participants of the

study. The members of the Lourdes School Community were asked to answer the research

survey questionnaire and/or were interviewed. Additionally, they were adults aged eighteen (18)

and above in order to be able to participate in the study. The reasoning behind this was that

adults are legally allowed to become vaccinated without needing the permission of their

guardian. This allowed the paper to directly acquire information from the participants themselves

without needing to ask for the consent of their parents. The questions for both the survey and

interview were all regarding their personal views, opinions, and experiences in concern to taking

or being vaccinated. As new COVID-19 variants had emerged as of late, the researchers had not

considered this to be a part of the study as no known COVID-19 variants had been identified

during the conceptualization of the study. Due to this, the topic is unfortunately not part of the

study. Moreover, the data collection was conducted in LSQC alone. Other than that, the research

defined vaccine confidence and informed the LSQC community about vaccines in general. As

aforementioned in a previous section of the paper, the study played a role in the LSQC health

services sector.

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1.6 Definition of Terms

Listed below are terms that were defined on how these words were used within the research.

1. Antibody - a protein produced by the immune system to respond to the presence of

foreign substances (Britannica, n.d.).

2. Antigen - a substance which triggers the immune system to respond in such a way that it

identifies substances in or markers on cells (Dansinger, 2019).

3. B-lymphocyte - a defensive white blood cell which is responsible for the production of

antibodies that combat the antigens left behind by the macrophages (CDC, 2018).

4. Epidemic - an outbreak of disease that spreads quickly and affects many individuals at

the same time (Merriam-webster, n.d.).

5. Endemic - (of a disease) persisting in a population or region, generally having settled to a

relatively constant rate of occurrence (Dictionary, n.d.).

6. Herd Immunity - is the indirect protection from an infectious disease which occurs

when a population becomes immune with a certain disease either through vaccination or

immunity developed through previous infection (who.int, 2020).

7. Immunization - a process by which a person becomes protected against a disease

through vaccination. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccination or

inoculation. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018.).

8. Inactivated Vaccine - a type of vaccine that uses a neutralized version of a germ that

caused a disease (Vaccines, 2020)

9. Indemnity - a contractual agreement between two parties; one party agrees to pay for

potential losses or damages caused by another party. (Hayes, 2020)

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10. Macrophage - a white blood cell that dissolves germs, dead and/or dying cells (CDC,

2018).

11. Mutation - occurs when a Deoxynucleic Acid (DNA) gene is damaged or changed in

such a way as to alter the genetic message carried by that gene (Brooklyn, n.d.).

12. Natural immunity - exposure to the actual disease that causes the immune system to

produce antibodies to develop immunity (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

2017).

13. Pathogen - an organism that causes diseases (Santos-longhurst, 2019)

14. Pandemic - a disease that is spread across multiple countries and or continents.

15. Protein-based Subunit Vaccine - a type of vaccine which contains specific isolated

proteins from a viral pathogen which were selected for its ability to stimulate immune

cells; hence, triggering the body’s immune response (Gavi, n.d).

16. RNA-based Vaccine - a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases like

the COVID-19. The vaccine teaches the body’s cells on how to make proteins that trigger

an immune response inside the body, producing antibodies (CDC, 2018).

17. T-lymphocyte - an additional type of white blood cell that attacks cells in the body that

have already been infected (CDC, 2018).

18. Vaccinology - the science of vaccines, and historically includes basic science,

immunogens, the host immune response, delivery strategies and technologies,

manufacturing, and clinical evaluation (Barrett, 2016).

19. Viral Vector-based Vaccine - a type of vaccine which infects the body’s cells and inserts

a genetic material, including the antigen gene, into the nucleus of the cells once it is

administered within the body’s system (Gavi, n.d).

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CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents information found in various research papers from credible sources

that the researchers utilized in order to conceptualize and to create a valid and meaningful study.

Information such as the history of vaccination and pandemics, vaccination and vaccine

confidence in the Philippines, surveys and news regarding COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19

vaccination program in the Philippines, COVID-19 vaccines that might be procured in the

Philippines and the Indemnity Law were analyzed and discussed thoroughly throughout this

chapter. Additionally, conceptual frameworks were discussed in this chapter.

2.1. Literature Review

2.1.1 History of pandemics according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A pandemic was described as a disease that spreaded across multiple countries and or

continents. The term “pandemic” had a different definition with epidemic and endemic. Before

the conceptualization of vaccines, there were diseases that had affected multiple countries which

brought upon millions of casualties. According to the WHO (n.d.), the Bubonic plague that

occurred in the fourteenth century in Europe killed approximately more than fifty million people.

This certain disease can be easily treated today with antibiotics and standard preventative

measures. Additionally, the 1918 influenza pandemic or the “Spanish flu” infected an estimated

number of five hundred million people. As stated by the CDC (2018), the widespread infection

of the 1918 H1N1 virus was due to the absence of a vaccine and antibiotics to protect people

from the virus and to treat secondary bacterial infections that were associated with influenza

infections.

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As reported in the History of 1918 Flu Pandemic (2018), the Spanish flu or the H1N1

virus originated within avian species and was first discovered in the United States. When the

year 1957 came, a new pathogen of the H1N1 virus was discovered, labeled the H2N2. The new

pathogen of the virus is composed of the Influenza A virus, H2 Hemagglutinin genes, and N2

Neuraminidase genes. The different variations of the H2 genes cause clumping of red blood cells

so that the infection deteriorates the individual (Goodsell, 2006). On the other hand, N2

Neuraminidase genes’ function is to break down carbohydrates found in the cells of individuals

in order to create new virus cells (McKimm-Breschkin, 2019). On a similar note, the first case of

the H2N2 virus was recorded in Singapore in February 1957, and went on to eliminate a total of

1,100,000 people globally. Eleven years after, a brand new pathogen resurfaced and was labeled

the H3N2 virus, because of its difference in the H2 gene wherein it evolved to the H3 gene.

Although studies were already conducted about the virus at that current time, it was still able to

take 1,000,000 people due to the immigration of birds from the United States, the country of

origin of the H3N2 virus.

Overall, vaccines helped prevent diseases from spreading across multiple countries or

continents. Few years back, it showed how important vaccines were and how it made an impact

on millions of people suffering from different viruses and diseases.

2.1.2 History and Importance of Vaccines

The first known usage of vaccine dates back to England in 1796; a british physician

named Edward Jenner extracted pus from a cowpox lesion and then conducted a study titled

“Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccine”. Along with Jenner’s formulated

vaccine for the Smallpox, it also became the foundation of his study on Vaccinology. Then, in

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1885, a chemist named Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine for Rabies which further expanded the

depth of the said field. Moreover, because of Pasteur’s work, a clearer definition and concrete

design for vaccines and immunizations are now accepted by the public (Markel & Stern, 2005).

Interestingly, Markel and Stern pointed out in their article History of Vaccines and

Immunization: International Investment (2005) that in the 19th century, providing vaccines for the

public against Smallpox became a part of the law. Moreover, amidst the 20th century, the World

Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund launched their Expanded

Programme in Immunization (EPI) in order for children in developing countries to be given

vaccine shots as well. That being said, according to Henderson (1994), in more than three

decades, the EPI increased the immunization rates for each illness significantly.

In 2005, Stern mentioned that as time passes, a single version of a vaccine is likely

sufficient when a strain of virus emerges, this is according to the concepts in Viral Mutation

studied by Sanjuan (2016). The study explained that when a new strain of virus arises, the

weaker strains are eliminated. It also pointed out that viruses have the ability to adapt to their

surroundings through beneficial mutation. Currently, vaccines have not been developed yet for

the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Malaria; however, their strains are evolving

continuously, which is why intensive research for illnesses are deemed significant in order to

come up with an effective vaccine. In addition to Stern’s statement, even the well-known experts

experience difficulty in identifying the upcoming versions of a virus.

One of the importance of vaccines is that it is the most effective way to combat diseases.

It is also good to note that vaccines have been there for more than 230 years, it is even older than

antibiotics (Racomora, 2020). However, in relation to the importance of vaccines, it is crucial

that one must also learn the significance of getting vaccinated. According to an article that was

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released by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health last August 13, 2020, there are four (4)

factors indicating the importance of getting vaccinated. First, it is a simple and effective way to

gain protection against various pathogens. Most of the time, through vaccination, people acquire

a lifelong immunity from disease/s that they may have had in the past. However, some vaccines

may need boosters; having fluke in obtaining the disease once again. Second, to achieve herd

immunity. It is said that when the majority of the community or the population is immune with a

certain pathogen, the chances of people that will get affected decreases. Likewise, in accordance

with public health, Gerson, M. (2014) wrote a news article claiming that vaccination is

considered as a social responsibility—people have this sole responsibility to also consider the

wellness of other members within their community, not just themselves. Third, it is highly

recommended that infants get vaccinated (six months after birth); their immune system is strong

enough to tackle microbes after birth, hence common infections (e.g. cold) would just affect their

immune system much less. Lastly, Gerson added that it is of utmost importance to vaccinate

children as it is urged strongly by the Children Immunisation Programme. Parents are advised to

immunize their children against multiple diseases.

With that, a vaccine is seen as a great discovery in the medical field and without it,

millions of people will become victims of various illnesses such as influenza and Smallpox.

Moreover, as early as the 1700s vaccines were developed to help the people suffering from

diseases, such as Smallpox, but it is evolving continuously to make effective vaccines for other

illnesses like HIV and Malaria. Aside from knowing the importance of vaccination, it is also

necessary to learn the significance of getting vaccinated as one can influence other people and

then promote herd immunity.

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2.1.3 Vaccination in the Philippines

It was dated last March 1995 that there were people who disapprove of the use of

vaccines in the Philippines. A group of “pro-lifers” were back to voice out their advocacies

regarding vaccinations. According to them, contraceptives are a way of abortion. Moreover, in

1994, they said that the use of condoms will not protect people from catching Human

Immunodeficiency Viruses or HIV, a sexually-transmitted disease. This time, they made a tetanus

vaccine scare, causing great fear to people about taking the Tetanus vaccine because according to

them, it will cause Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG), a hormone that may cause abortion

and inferility. These pro-lifers statements were examples of pseudo-scientific propaganda (Tan,

1995). This kind of propaganda made people not take vaccines. It also caused the rise of diseases

that can be prevented through vaccination. According to CDC and WHO (2015), vaccines can

prevent over 24 diseases. Unfortunately, as time goes by, cases of different diseases are

increasing. Since 2008, the Global Health Program recorded global outbreaks to diseases like

measles, mumps, polio, rubella (German measles), whooping cough, and other diseases that can

be prevented through vaccines (e.g. chickenpox, cholera, diphtheria, meningitis, rotavirus,

typhoid).

On July 26, 2010 the Mandatory Basic Immunization Services for Infants and Children,

also known as Republic Act No. 101152, was declared in the Philippines. It stated that parents

are obligated to get their new born baby vaccinated. These vaccines are free and paid by the

government and it is available in any government hospital and health center to infants and

children up to five (5) years of age. The free vaccines include: Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Tetanus,

Pertussis, Poliomyelitis, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Hepatitis-B, H. Influenza type B, and such

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other types as may be determined by the Secretary of Health of the Department of Health

(DOH).

In the Philippines, the immunization of children decreased in recent years, from 87% in

2014 to 68% in 2019. With that, it exposed children to vaccine-preventable diseases such as

measles and polio (UNICEF, 2020). In the recent year, there was a polio outbreak in the

Philippines last September 2019. As confirmed by the National Polio Laboratory and the

Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Japan National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID)

and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC), the first case of

polio in the Philippines was dated nineteen (19) years ago. Polio disease is mostly acquired by

infants and children whose living in a condition of low hygiene value. In this kind of situation,

vaccines are important.

In this date, in the midst of the ongoing pandemic and health crisis in the Philippines, 2

million Filipino children missed out vaccinations (UNICEF, April 2020). This was because the

majority of communities in the country were under enhanced community quarantine which

caused the immunization services disrupted or suspended. According to UNICEF (2020), they

offered help to support the Department of Health and other partners by investing Php 85 million

in the next three years. This was to increase the immunization coverage and strengthen the

routine immunization by improving the processes to procure and distribute vaccines.

In essence, it was unfortunate to see that the rate of vaccination within the Philippines

decreased in recent years. Due to this fact, vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio had

reemerged in the country that could possibly endanger the health and welfare of the Filipino

citizens. In addition, the much-needed support of the Department of Health was necessary in

order to increase immunization coverage and strengthen the routine immunization by improving

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the processes to procure and distribute vaccines. Doing so would lessen the chance of

reemergence of vaccine-preventable diseases and promote the acceptance of vaccines in the

Philippine society.

2.1.4. COVID-19 news and COVID-19 vaccines survey in the Philippines

In relation to current times, there was a survey done by the World Economic Forum

(WEF) (2020) that stated only 3 out of 4 adults globally would accept a vaccine against the

coronavirus disease 2019. Additionally, 74 percent of nearly 20,000 adults had stated that they

were willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, whereas 26 percent stated that they disagreed with

the idea, according to the WEF’s Ipsos survey. "The 26 percent shortfall in vaccine confidence is

significant enough to compromise the effectiveness of rolling out a Covid-19 vaccine," said by

Arnaud Bernaert, the organization's head of shaping the future of health and healthcare. Contrary

to the previous report according to the vaccine confidence of Filipinos, there was a survey

conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) about the willingness of Filipinos to receive

Coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine. According to PTV News (2020), the research was conducted

on September 16 to 20 by the National Mobile Phone Survey of SWS. The results indicated that

the majority of adult Filipinos (66%) were willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Another survey was done by Pulse Asia in regards to the willingness of Filipinos to take

the COVID-19 vaccines (reuters.com, 2021). The survey was done on November 23 and

December 2 of 2020. According to the poll, 32% of 2,400 respondents would get vaccinated

against COVID-19 disease when available. However, 47% of the respondents refused getting

vaccinated for safety concerns. While the remaining 21% were still undecided. Moreover, 84%

of the respondents were unsure of the safety of the vaccines being developed. In terms of

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location, the region of Visayas showed 55% of respondents that were disinterested in the

COVID-19 vaccine; Mindanao region had 48%; 46% from Balance Luzon; and 41% from the

National Capital Region (NCR). In accordance with the prices of the vaccines, 7% of

respondents who were against being vaccinated are worried that the vaccine might not be free.

While 4% said that the vaccines might be expensive. Also, 5% of respondents believed that

inoculation was not necessary to fight against COVID-19 disease (Baclig, 2021).

Since vaccines from multiple pharmaceutical companies released their efficacy rates for

their respective vaccine, people were prone to grasping falsified information that will result in

confusion and misunderstandings. News outlets such as Rappler (2021) had fact checked

misinformation being spread by government officials. They investigated an official’s claim that

two doses of Sinovac’s vaccine yielded 100% efficacy against COVID-19 disease, which was

then proven false. In relation to this, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO)

Secretary Martin Andanar disclosed that lack of understanding made it difficult to remove fears

of the COVID-19 vaccine. He mentioned that this remained to be a widespread problem that

makes Filipinos hesitant to become inoculated.

According to Dr. Lulu Bravo (Rocamora, 2020), Philippine Foundation for Vaccination

(PFV) executive director, stated that if there were high vaccine hesitancy among many Filipinos,

which was worsened by “anti-vaxxers” in social media, manufacturers will not bring that certain

vaccine to the country. With that being said, the government faced challenges in convincing its

people to get vaccinated, more importantly because parents showed reluctance to get their

children vaccinated after the controversial dengue immunization program in 2017.

In line with the COVID-19 news and updates, there are many variants of the virus but

these are the four (4) notably COVID-19 variants in the Philippines: United Kingdom, South

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African, Brazillian, and the so-called Philippine varitant. According to CDC (2021), these

variants emerge through mutation and new ones are still expected to be developed as time elapse.

Likewise, compared to other variants, these variants are more likely to spread easily and quickly,

which led to more cases of COVID-19. Moreover, because of the increase of the number of

cases, it will result in more strain on healthcare resources, lead to more hospitalizations and

potentially, more deaths.

First, the United Kingdom variant or B.1.1.1. This variant was first detected in the US at

the end of December 2020 and based on multiple studies, this variant has the fastest transmission

rate among other COVID-19 variants which had caused experts from the UK to associate this

variant with an increased risk of death.

Second, the South Africa variant or B.1.351. This was detected originally in early

October 2020; however, cases caused by this variant have been reported in the U.S at the later

part of January 2021.

Third, the Brazillian variant or P.1. This variant was first identified in four travelers from

Brazil. The travelers were tested during the routine screening at Haneda airport outside Tokyo,

Japan. The variants have reported to have 17 unique variants, this include the three in the

receptor binding domain of the spike protein. Moreover, this variant was detected last January

2021 in the US.

Lastly, in the Philippines, there has been a reported local variant or also called as P.3. For

obvious reasons, this variant originated from the Philippines; this was first identified within a

Filipino who travelled to Japan. It is also believed that this has the same lineage with the

Brazillian variant. However, this variant is not yet identified as a variant of concern by the health

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officials because there is no sufficient data that concludes whether the variant will have

significant public health implications (DOH, 2021).

Basically, the surveys conducted are highly important as people have been wondering

about the COVID-19 vaccines. These surveys have also been helpful for the researchers as it

allowed them to show comparison in results of this paper. In addition, in line with the COVID-19

news and updates, the COVID-19 variants reported are also essential for the people to know such

as how they all originated. The mentioned variants were one of the many variants of COVID-19.

2.1.4. Various Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccines that might be available in the Philippines

Vaccine Country of Type of Essential Efficacy Storage


Manufacturer Developer Vaccine Number of Doses Against COVID-19 Requirement

Normal
AstraZeneca- UK Viral Vector 1-2 62% to 90% fridge
Oxford temperature
(2 to 8℃)

Pfizer-BioNT US-Germany RNA-based 2 95% -70℃


ech

Protein Just started Normal


Novavax US sub-unit 2 Phase 3 fridge
trials temperature

Moderna US RNA-based 2 94.5% -25℃ to


-15℃

Inactivated Normal
Sinovac China Vaccine 2 50% to 78% fridge
temperature

Inactivated Normal
Sinopharm China Vaccine 2 79% fridge
temperature

Janssen To be Normal

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(Johnson & Belgium-US Viral Vector 1 released fridge


Johnson) temperature

Normal
Gamaleya Russia Viral Vector 2 91% fridge
Institute temperature
(Dry form)

China- Protein Still in Normal


Clover Australia sub-unit 2 Phase fridge
⅔ trials temperature
Sources: ABS-CBN News, WHO, IATF, DOH, FDA, DOST January 12, 2021

Table 1. COVID-19 vaccines

As seen in Table 1, these are the COVID-19 vaccines that will possibly be procured in the

Philippines. The vaccine manufacturers were listed together with the country of developer, type

of vaccine, essential number of doses, efficacy against COVID-19 disease, and the storage

requirement.

2.1.4.1. AstraZeneca-Oxford

ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or AZD1222 vaccine is developed by the University of Oxford

partnered with the British-Swedish company, AstraZeneca. The AstraZeneca-Oxford team used a

modified version of a chimpanzee adenovirus, ChAdOx1. This adenovirus can enter the cells but

it cannot replicate inside them (Corum & Zimmer, 2021). Moreover, the vaccine does not have to

stay frozen unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine. It is expected to last for at least six months

when refrigerated at 38 - 49 degrees fahrenheit or 2 - 8 degrees celsius. Likewise, their vaccine is

a viral vector vaccine, which requires 1-2 doses per person to be fully effective. Additionally, its

reported efficacy against COVID-19 is 60% to 90%.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

2.1.4.2. Pfizer-BioNTech

The origin of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, particularly named BNT162b2, is

the United Kingdom. Their vaccine is an RNA-based vaccine, which requires 2 doses per person

with 21 days apart to be fully effective. According to CDC (2021), the vaccine is recommended

to people aged 16 and above. Additionally, it is reported to have 95% effectiveness against

COVID-19 and the storage requirement should be -70 degrees celsius. Despite the efficacy rate,

there were reports of people who volunteered in the clinical trials went to the hospital or died.

However, CDC still confirmed as the data were collected that the people who got

Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine were less likely to have more serious outcomes compared to people

who got the saline placebo.

2.1.4.3. Novavax

Another vaccine candidate was developed by Novavax, Inc., of Gaithersburg, Maryland,

named NVX-CoV2373. This is made from a stabilized form of the coronavirus spike protein

with the use of the manufacturer’s recombinant protein nanoparticle technology. Since the

vaccine has purified protein antigens, it cannot replicate and cannot cause COVID-19. According

to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (2020), the vaccine also has a proprietary adjuvant

called MatrixM™. This adjuvant is an additive that enhances the responses of the body’s

immune system to the vaccines. Furthermore, this requires 2 doses per person to be fully

effective. Lastly, its storage temperature requirement is normal fridge temperature. As of writing,

Novavax does not have a reported efficacy rate for their COVID-19 vaccine. This is because

their phase 3 trials only started recently.

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2.1.4.4. Moderna

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, also named as mRNA-1273, is from the country of the

United States of America. This vaccine is another type of vaccine that uses mRNA similar to

Pfizer. To explain briefly, the nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine made by Moderna, a

biotechnology company founded in 2010 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is formulated in lipid

particle that delivers the nucleoside-modified mRNA into host cells to allow expression of the

SARS-CoV-2 Spike antigen. Basically, this makes the vaccine to do an immune response to the

Spike antigen, which protects the body against the coronavirus (Moderna, 2020). Moreover, this

vaccine requires 2 doses per person to be fully effective. Remarkably, the efficacy of this vaccine

against COVID-19 is 94.5% and the storage requirement should be -25 to -15 degrees celsius.

2.1.4.5. Sinovac

In the country of China, there are three candidates of vaccines against COVID-19, one is

from the Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company, Sinovac, an inactivated vaccine. According

to BBC News China (2021), “the vaccine works by using killed viral particles to expose the

body's immune system to the virus without risking a serious disease response.” In addition, part

of the coronavirus’ genetic code is injected into the body which makes the body to produce viral

protein that is enough to train the immune system to attack. For the effectiveness rate against

COVID-19, as of writing, it is yet to be determined since various countries undergoing phase

three trials, such as Turkey and Indonesia, have different effectiveness rates. Despite that,

Sinovac has been approved to use for emergency purposes in high-risk groups in China since

July 2020. Volunteers of more than 1,000 chinese residents have been reported having minor

fatigue or discomfort.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

2.1.4.6. Sinopharm

The second vaccine that might be procured by the Philippines from China is the

BBIBP-CorV or Sinopharm developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products. According

to BBC News (2020), the Sinopharm vaccine is also an inactivated vaccine which works through

administering killed viral particles in order to expose the body’s immune system to the virus.

With this, they have also stated that this vaccine requires two (2) doses to have an efficacy of

79% against the COVID-19. For its storage requirement, a statement from Dr. Nabil Debouni,

Group Medical Director, VPS Healthcare, was released saying that the Sinopharm vaccine is

stored at a normal fridge temperature of 2 to 8°C which means that it can also be stored in most

standard medication refrigerators where medicines and vaccines are kept safely (Kumar, 2020).

2.1.4.7. Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)

The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson vaccine candidate,

Ad26.COV2.S or JNJ-78436735, is from the United States of America and Belgium. It is a

recombinant, replication-incompetent adenovirus serotype 26 (Ad26) vector encoding a

full-length and stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (Johnson & Johnson, 2021). Moreover, the

difference between Adenovirus-based vaccines and mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna

is that Adenovirus-based vaccines for COVID-19 are more rugged. The adenovirus’s tough

protein coat helps to protect the genetic material inside. With that, this vaccine is required to be

refrigerated for up to three months at 36-46 degrees fahrenheit or 2-8 degrees celsius (Corum &

Zimmer, 2021). The efficacy rate against COVID-19 of this vaccine is yet to be determined

since, as of writing, the trial is underprocess.

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2.1.4.8. Gamaleya Institute

The country of Russia registered an adenovirus vector-based vaccine against COVID-19

on August 11, 2020 and it became the first registered COVID-19 vaccine on the market. The

same goes to AstraZeneca’s and Janssen’s vaccine, it also uses adenovirus-based vector.

Furthermore, according to the Galameya Nation Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology

(2021), “the use of human adenoviruses as vectors is safe because these viruses, which cause the

common cold, are not novel and have been around for thousands of years.” It is proclaimed that

human adenoviruses are the easiest to engineer, therefore they have become very popular as

vectors. Moreover, the Russian scientists thought of using two different types of adenovirus

vectors (rAd26 and rAd5) for the first and second vaccination to boost the effect of the vaccine

and to ensure the lasting immunity. As a result, this vaccine requires 2 doses per person.

Additionally, the efficacy against COVID-19 is 91% and the storage requirement should be

normal fridge temperature which is 2 to 8 degrees celsius (in dry form).

2.1.4.9. Clover

The vaccine of China partnered with Australia has developed a protein-based COVID-19

S-Trimer vaccine in combination with adjuvants from either GSK (London Stock Exchange:

GSK) or Dynavax (Nasdaq: DVAX), which induces strong immune responses, including

neutralizing antibodies and cell-mediated immunity (Clover Biopharma, 2020). For now, it has

passed the first phase of clinical trial and is currently in the second phase. With that, it is still yet

to be determined the effectiveness of the vaccine against COVID-19. However, it is reported that

it can be stored in normal refrigerator temperature, 36-46 degrees fahrenheit or 2-8 degrees

celsius.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

2.1.5. COVID-19 vaccination program in the Philippines

As of March 1, 2021, the Philippines has legally rolled out COVID-19 vaccines with the

first doses of Sinovac vaccines. The Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines arrived in the Philippines last

February 28, 2021 with 600,000 doses (Tomacruz, 2021). The vaccine was supposed to arrive in

the Philippines mid-February; however, due to paperwork delays from the Global COVAX

Facilities, the vaccine arrived on the last day of February. This also happens to other COVID-19

vaccines manufacturers such as Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford. Nevertheless, last

March 4, 2021, AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccines arrived in the Philippines from the

COVAX Facility with more than 480,000 doses (WHO, 2021). Moreover, according to vaccine

czar Carlito Galvez Jr., there will be a steady supply of COVID-19 vaccines sometime in April to

May (Tomacruz, 2021). The schedule for the vaccines’ arrival is summarized in the table below.

1st Quarter

February 28 600,000 Sinovac doses donated by China

March 4 487,200 AstraZeneca doses from COVAX

March 7 38,400 AstraZeneca doses from COVAX

March 24 400,000 Sinovac doses donated by China

March 24 to 26 979,200 AstraZeneca doses from COVAX

March 29 1 million Sinovac doses purchased by


government

2nd Quarter

April (no specific dates yet) 1.5 to 2 million doses of Sinovac

April (no specific dates yet) 3 million doses of Gamaleya’s Sputnik V

April (no specific dates yet) 1 million doses of COVAX vaccines

May (no specific dates yet) 2 million doses of Sinovac

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May (no specific dates yet) 3 million doses of Gamaleya

May (no specific dates yet) 2.6 million doses of AstraZeneca

May (no specific dates yet) 1 million doses of COVAX vaccines

May (no specific dates yet) 194,000 doses of Moderna

June (no specific dates yet) 4.5 million doses of Sinovac

June (no specific dates yet) 4 million doses of Gamelya

June (no specific dates yet) 1 million doses of Novavax

June (no specific dates yet) 2 million doses of AstraZeneca

3rd Quarter

July (no specific dates yet) 3 million doses of Sinovac

July (no specific dates yet) 4 million doses of Gamaleya

July (no specific dates yet) 1 million doses of Moderna

July (no specific dates yet) 2 million doses of Novavax

July (no specific dates yet) 1.5 million doses of Johnson & Johnson

July (no specific dates yet) 2 million doses of AstraZeneca

August (no specific dates yet) 20 million doses (no breakdown yet)

September (no specific dates yet) 20 million doses (no breakdown yet)

4th Quarter

October (no specific dates yet) 20 million doses (no breakdown yet)

November (no specific dates yet) 20 million doses (no breakdown yet)

December (no specific dates yet) 20 million doses (no breakdown yet)
Sources: Rappler.com, DOH

Table 2. Schedule for the COVID-19 vaccines’ arrival

The question regarding who will get a vaccine first apprised ever since the plan of the

immunization program has become public. According to the Department of Health, the topmost

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priority is the healthcare workers who counted as 1.7 million or 1.6% of the population in the

Philippines (Tomacruz, 2021). The total population that plans to be vaccinated is 24.6 million or

22.8% of the Philippine population. Other priority eligible groups include: indigent senior

citizens (3.7 million or 3.5%), remaining senior citizens (5.6 million or 5.3%), remaining

indigent population (12.9 million or 12%), and uniformed personnel (PNP, AFP, PCG, BFP,

CAFGU)(525,523 or 0.5%). In addition, it should be noted that other target groups (e.g. persons

with comorbidities, children, pregnant and lactating women) to be considered will depend on the

development of scientific evidence. This also means that these groups can be ranked higher in

priority.

As the government witnessed the arrival of 600,000 doses of Sinovac COVID-19

vaccine, they proclaimed it “doses of hope.” However, there have been mixed emotions as the

people have been waiting and expecting for Pfizer and AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 to arrive

earlier. These two vaccine manufacturers are perceived to be the better options. However, as said

by Galvez (Tomacruz, 2021), “Let’s not wait for the so-called best vaccine. There is no such 'best

vaccine' because the best vaccine is the one that is safe and efficient, and arrives earlier.”

This could be concluded that since the vaccination program has been started, many

people are now thinking of getting vaccinated. The released schedule for the arrivals of vaccine

doses is said to be enough and will have a steady supply of vaccines in the country. In addition,

as Galvez has said, there is no such thing as ‘best vaccine’ because the best vaccine is the one

that is safe and efficient, and arrives earlier.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

2.1.6. Vaccine Confidence in general and its presence in the Philippines

Vaccine confidence was described by the Vaccine Confidence Project™ (n.d.) as

understanding the “more difficult belief-based, emotional, ideological and contextual factors

whose influences often live outside an immunization or even health program but affect both

confidence in and acceptance of vaccines.” The Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP) was founded

in 2010 to help develop systematic approaches and to inform policy makers and stakeholders

about the public confidence in vaccines across the globe. Additionally, the VCP made various

researches and surveys about the roots, trends and impact of vaccine confidence issues all over

the world (de Figuieredo et al, 2020). Likewise, one of the founders of VCP, Heidi Larson, made

incredible contributions about vaccines. She significantly said that online misinformation was

one of the problems about taking vaccines. Furthermore, she explained how vaccination

coverage had a large drop because of the unproven vaccine safety scare that leads people to

doubt and distrust vaccines. Moreover, Larson (2020) also explained that it was critical that

governments and private sectors come together to build confidence and ensure that

manufacturing capacity meets the global supply of a COVID-19 vaccination program.

Aside from that, there was the largest global survey regarding vaccine confidence that

was published in the Lancet medical journal. Between the years 2015 and 2018, the Philippines,

together with Afghanistan, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan, saw an increase in the number of

people strongly disagreeing that vaccines are safe. Likewise, this was due to the issue that

emerged regarding the dengvaxia vaccine which made the confidence in vaccines decline

substantially in the Philippines between 2015 and 2018 (Larson, Hartigan-go & de Figueiredo,

2018).

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According to Dr. Beaver Tamesis (Manuel, 2021), the president of the Pharmaceutical &

Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), delineated that his group’s experiences with

vaccines they sold before had low confidence rates, but when they tried to educate and sit down

with different stakeholders about the concerned vaccines, the confidence rates went up to over

90%. This means that it is important for the different stakeholders, such as the doctors, the city

mayor, the city health officers, and all civil organizations, to be involved. Therefore, the role of

openness regarding vaccine production, the effectiveness and safety of each vaccine being

produced, and its side effects was extremely important.

To put it simply, vaccine confidence is about trust to the vaccine itself or the provider.

Heidi Larson discussed some major factors that affect vaccine confidence: online misinformation

and the influence of governments and private sectors. Aside from that, because of VCP and its

objectives, it made significant changes in the world. Also, it is important for everyone to be

involved in regards to vaccine production, the effectiveness and safety of each vaccine being

produced, and its side effects.

2.1.7. Indemnification Law

On the 26th of February, 2021, the Malacañang Palace confirmed that President Rodrigo

Duterte signed the Indemnity Bill for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The law gives indemnity to

vaccine manufacturers if their COVID-19 vaccine causes adverse reactions to the recipients of

the vaccine. This was days before the country started its lagging inoculation program. Moreover,

the indemnity law created a 500 million peso (10.26 million USD) indemnity fund to compensate

possible serious adverse reactions that are due to the vaccines’ use. The law made COVID-19

vaccine manufacturers immune from lawsuits in a situation where a case arises. In relation to

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this, the absence of the indemnification law prior to the signing of the bill had delayed the

delivery of 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, donated through the COVAX facility.

On the contrary, the Philippines had accepted 600,000 doses of Sinovac Biotech’s vaccines as

donated by China. This allowed the Philippines to inoculate frontline workers such as health

professionals and soldiers.

2.1.8. SAGE Working Group Models

2.1.8.1 Model of Determinants

The report of the SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy assessed a number of

conceptual models for understanding and grouping of vaccine hesitancy determinants. These

determinants were arranged in three separate categories: contextual, individual and group, and

vaccine/vaccination specific influences.

Contextual influences are defined as the influences arising due to the historic,

socio-cultural, environmental, health, system/institutional, economic, or political factors.

Included in this category are the following:

● Communication and media environment


● Influential leaders, immunization program gatekeepers and anti- or pro-vaccination
lobbies.
● Historical influences
● Religion/culture/ gender/socio-economic
● Politics/policies
● Geographic barriers
● Perception of the pharmaceutical industry

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Moreover, the individual and group influences are defined as the influences arising from

personal perception of the vaccine or the influences of an individual’s social or peer

environment. Included in this category are the following:

● Personal, family and/or community members’ experience with vaccination, including


pain
● Beliefs, attitudes about health and prevention
● Knowledge/awareness
● Health system and providers-trust and personal experience.
● Risk/benefit (perceived, heuristic)
● Immunisation as a social norm vs. not needed/harmful

The final category, which is vaccine/vaccination specific issues, is defined as the factors

directly related to vaccine or vaccination in general. Included in this category are the following:

● Risk/ Benefit (epidemiological and scientific evidence)


● Introduction of a new vaccine or new formulation or a new recommendation for an
existing vaccine
● Mode of administration
● Design of vaccination program/Mode of delivery (e.g., routine program or mass
vaccination campaign)
● Reliability and/or source of supply of vaccine and/or vaccination equipment
● Vaccination schedule
● Costs

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Figure 1. SAGE Working Group Model, SAGE Working Group (WHO, 2014)

2.1.8.2 “3Cs” Model of Vaccine Hesitancy

According to WHO (2014), vaccine hesitancy is influenced by three factors: confidence,

complacency and convenience. This is also how the SAGE Working Group defined vaccine

hesitancy. Moreover, in 3Cs, vaccine confidence is defined as trust in three dimensions in terms

of taking vaccines: (1) effectiveness and safety; (2) the system that delivers them, including the

reliability and competence of the health services and health professionals; and (3) the

motivations of the policy-makers who decide on the needed vaccines. Secondly, vaccine

complacency occurs when there are vaccine-preventable diseases that are perceived to be in risk

and vaccination is not a necessity for prevention purposes. More so, vaccine complacency in

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general, as said by WHO, is affected by many factors. It includes other life or health

responsibilities, immunization programs and self-efficacy. Lastly, physical availability,

affordability and willingness-to-pay, geographical accessibility, ability to understand (language

and health literacy) and appeal of immunization services is measured because it affected the

uptake of vaccines—this is all under vaccine convenience. Further, the decision of vaccinating

may rely on the quality of vaccination services, time, place, and cultural context that is

convenient and comfortable. Overall, this model helps to determine how people perceive

vaccines through these 3Cs. It shows how trust, convenience and complacency of vaccines are

important factors in deciding to be vaccinated.

Figure 2. 3Cs’ Model of Vaccine Hesitancy, SAGE Working Group (WHO, 2014)

The model for determinants of vaccine hesitancy presents the three categories

conceptualized by the SAGE Working Group. The determinants they had discovered through the

assessment of various conceptual models were arranged to three different categories: contextual

influences, individual/social group influences, and vaccine/vaccination-specific issues. The

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researchers intended to include this model in their study to aid the data analysis section of the

paper. If vaccine hesitancy was present within the participants of the study, the researchers may

then refer to the model SAGE Working Group created to give sufficient justification and analysis

to the data gathered by the researchers. The same situation applied to the 3Cs’ model of vaccine

hesitancy, once again created by the SAGE Working Group. The themes found after performing

thematic analysis on the data gathered from the focus group discussions were explained and

justified through the 3Cs’ model of vaccine hesitancy.

2.2 Synthesis

Vaccines are one of the greatest discoveries in the medicine field and without it, millions

of people will become victims of various illnesses. In the history of pandemics by CDC, it was

discussed how vaccines significantly helped prevent diseases from spreading across the world.

Moreover, vaccines were first discovered in 1796 by Edward Jenner and until then, vaccines are

evolving continuously. The history and importance of vaccines were also discussed wherein

intensive research for illnesses are deemed significant in order to come up with an effective

vaccine. Aside from showing its effectiveness in preventing diseases from spreading, it made an

advancement by immunizing the people from catching diseases. In addition, it is important to

learn the significance of getting vaccinated.

In the Philippine context, there was a law obligating parents to vaccinate their newborn

baby. This law was implemented because the immunization of children has been decreasing in

recent years, from 87% in 2014 to 68% in 2019. Although the law was implemented in 2010,

vaccine confidence was still notable even after the year of implementation. As problems emerged

due to the abundance of vaccines, controversies such as Dengvaxia affected drastically the

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perspective of Filipinos regarding the efficacy of vaccines. Upon research by UNICEF, the

deficiency of vaccines, public opinion, and geography of the country is the reason behind the

decrease in vaccination rate in the Philippines.

In regards to COVID-19 vaccine surveys in the Philippines, from the latest Pulse Asia

survey conducted in November and December of 2020, it was shown that out of 2,400

respondents, 42% of them declined in being vaccinated against the COVID-19 disease. Their

reasons were mostly about safety concerns and the price of the vaccines. This survey showed

clear relation of political instability and misinformation and the level of trust in the safety of

medicines. Therefore, the role of the government in informing their people about the COVID-19

vaccines coming to the Philippines was extremely crucial, most especially with the increasing

number of COVID-19 cases in the country. Currently, there are four notable variants that have

emerged here in the Philippines: United Kingdom, South African, Brazillian, and a local variant.

It is to note that these variants are more likely to spread easily and quickly which also leads to a

sudden increase of COVID-19 cases.

In addition, the possible vaccines to be procured in the Philippines are only

Pfizer-BioNTech, Novavax, Moderna, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Janssen, Clover and Gamaleya

Institute, out of 68 vaccines that the researchers are currently testing. Although some of these

vaccines have been under clinical trials, they have seen great efficacy rates. While some

vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna, have been distributed or have Emergency Use

Authorization (EUA) approved by their countries Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Subsequently, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Indemnity Bill for the COVID-19 vaccine

rollout. The law gives indemnity to vaccine manufacturers if their COVID-19 vaccine causes

adverse reactions to the recipients of the vaccine. This makes the vaccine manufacturers immune

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

to lawsuits in a situation where a case arises. With this, the papers processed for the vaccine

manufacturers were delayed; detaining the vaccines. Despite that, the government has started the

vaccination program last March 1 with the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine. As announced by

Galvez, the country will have a steady supply of vaccines for the year 2021. Subsequently, the

breakdown of vaccines’ arrival was also publicized.

The Vaccine Confidence Project™ was established to understand the concept of vaccine

confidence and to explain the necessity for governments and private sectors to work together in

order to build confidence and to ensure that manufacturing capacity meets the global supply of a

COVID-19 vaccination program.

Furthermore, the researchers added models of the SAGE Working Group in this chapter

to support, justify, and explain the data that will be gathered in the study. Specifically, both the

model of determinants for vaccine hesitancy and the 3Cs’ model of vaccine hesitancy. The first

model categorizes the determinants of vaccine hesitancy into three different categories:

contextual influences, individual/social group influences, and vaccine/vaccination-specific

issues. Moreover, the second model presents the three factors that influence vaccine hesitancy,

namely: confidence, complacency, and convenience.

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2.3 Conceptual Framework

Figure 3. Conceptual Framework

Figure 3 shows the study’s conceptual framework. As previously mentioned, vaccine

hesitancy has a relation to vaccine confidence. From the gathered literature, the SAGE Working

Group (2014) mentioned how vaccine confidence can be affected by 3 factors: (1) effectiveness

and safety; (2) the system that delivers them, including the reliability and competence of the

health services and health professionals; and (3) the motivations of the policy-makers who

decide on the needed vaccines. Furthermore, these factors can result to vaccine hesitancy. In

measuring vaccine hesitancy of people, as also defined by SAGE Working Group, which is then

divided into four major categories: no vaccine hesitancy, acceptors with doubts, delayers, and

refusers. People under the category of ‘no vaccine hesitancy’ are people who had not delayed,

refused or had no doubts about taking a vaccine. ‘Acceptors with doubts’ are those who had not

delayed nor refused a vaccination for their child but people, under this category, are still

uncertain with their decision of accepting a specific vaccine—having second thoughts; those who

had delayed but not refused a vaccination for their children were ‘delayers’; and those who had

refused at least one vaccination for their children were ‘‘refusers”.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researchers indicated the procedures related to the study to accomplish

the research objectives stated above. Included in this chapter were the research method and

design, participants, units of analysis and sampling, data gathering methods, appendices, and

ethical considerations.

3.1. Research Method

The research approach was a mixed-method approach, meaning both quantitative and

qualitative procedures were employed in the study. The survey questionnaires distributed to the

participants accounted for the quantitative data, while the qualitative data was generated through

the follow-up focus group discussions.

3.2. Research Design

The research utilized a cross-sectional design. According to Setia (2016), cross-sectional

design is a type of observational study design wherein the researchers measure the outcome and

the exposures of the participants within the study at the same time. This helped the researchers to

come up with results that had answered their research questions.

3.3. Research Participants

This study made use of a simple random technique in gathering participants for the

quantitative part of the research. For the qualitative part of the research, it made use of a

purposive sampling technique. The participants of the study must follow the only qualification:

they must be an adult from Lourdes School Quezon City community. Aside from the

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aforementioned qualification, there were no other restrictions for the participants in partaking in

this study. The target composition for the participants were a general combination of alumni,

parents, students, admins, and employees. The researchers believed that these participants were

proper for the study because adults were capable of making decisions for themselves and if the

decision was concerning vaccines, then an adult was in the position to decide whether or not they

should take a certain vaccine.

Additionally, the whole community of Lourdes School Quezon City, meeting the

preceding requirements, was chosen for the locale of this study. The researchers chose the LSQC

Community because the research benefited the health sector of the aforementioned school.

Hence, the individuals part of the community were obliged to participate in the study.

3.4. Procedure

The total participants needed for the study was one hundred six (106) participants; this

was for both quantitative and qualitative part of the research. This paper surveyed 42 students, 21

alumni, 22 LSQC employees (admin, teachers and non-teaching personnel), and 21 parents,

respectively. Participants were all adults from LSQC, whose ages range from eighteen (18) and

above. Additionally, all of the participants were given a consent form first before answering the

survey. Both consent form and survey questionnaire were distributed with the use of Google

Forms. After that, twenty (20) participants did an FGD interview regarding their experiences,

views and opinions about taking a certain vaccine. To clarify, the proponents of the study decided

to select 20 people from the total number of participants as they aspire to amass five (5)

individuals from each of the study’s stakeholders. It was to take note that it was possible that the

researchers may conduct separate FGD per stakeholder. Furthermore, the interview was recorded

via web recorder since the interview was done through online platforms such as Zoom, Google

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Meet, or any chosen or available online video conferencing platforms of the participants. This

was done in compliance with the health protocol implemented by the government.

3.5 Pilot Testing

Before the final survey was administered to the entirety of the Lourdes School of Quezon

City community, the researchers conducted a pilot testing of the modified questionnaire with 8

participants. This was done in order to identify any possible fault or problem in the questionnaire

that may have been overlooked during its creation. Any aberrations that were discovered were

taken into consideration during the finalization of the questionnaire. The pilot testing was

accomplished with 8 randomly selected participants from the Lourdes School Quezon City

community.

3.6 Ethical Considerations

The school principal was asked for permission in conducting the research study. The

respondents and the principal were informed about the research and its purpose. All of the

participants were asked to sign a consent form first before participating in the survey and/or

interview. The signed consent forms were important because this meant that the participants

agreed about the terms and conditions of the study, and that their answers were used for

academic purposes only. Moreover, participants were not forced if they opt to not answer the

survey questionnaire or be part of the FGD; thus, being part of this study. Furthermore, it was

important for the researchers to respect the decisions of the participants regarding their agreed

scheduled time for interviewing. During the interview, the information was recorded via web

recorder since the interview was done through online platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, or

any chosen or available online video conferencing platforms of the participants.

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In addition, the identity of the participants and the information gathered were strictly

confidential. Hence, their names and other personal information were not allowed to mention in

any of the research papers and presentations of the researchers.

3.7 Data Analysis

For the quantitative part of this study, it used a descriptive type of statistical analysis to

interpret the data. This process used graphs for the quantitative description of the data. The

researchers utilized percentages and a frequency table. The researchers intended to use these

measures as advised by Mr. Carlo Dela Cruz. The quantitative data of the study was used to

answer the first problem stated in Chapter 1.

Moreover, for the qualitative part of this study, it used thematic analysis to interpret the

data gathered from the FGD. Thematic analysis is a method usually used for qualitative data.

This type of analysis will help the researchers examine the data by identifying the common

themes and patterns, such as ideas, topics and patterns that are prominent in the data (Caulfield,

2019). It is a process of cutting and sorting data. The data gathered from the focus group

discussions was used to answer the study’s second problem indicated in Chapter 1.

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Chapter 4: Results and Discussion

The researchers utilized a survey questionnaire composed of various questions regarding

vaccine confidence, vaccine hesitancy, and vaccination in general to measure the vaccine

confidence of the Lourdes School Quezon City community. The aforementioned survey

questionnaire also consisted of essay questions to enrich the gathered data from the participants.

Additionally, follow up focus group discussions done for each stakeholder were conducted and

analyzed to gain a deeper understanding of the survey results.

4.1 Survey Results

4.1.1. Vaccine Hesitancy

Question 1:

Have you ever hesitated/delayed about getting a vaccination for your child or yourself due to
reasons other than allergies and sickness and then proceeded with the vaccination?

Students Alumni Parents Employees

Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

42.9% 57.1% 47.6% 52.4% 47.6% 52.4% 13.6% 86.4%

Table 3. Data results of Question 1

As seen in Table 3, 57.1% of the response of students answered that they had not

hesitated or refused vaccination. This can be implied that in exclusion of allergies and sickness

reasons for taking the vaccine, they were more than willing to be vaccinated. Moreover, the

majority of the alumni responded ‘No’ (52.4%). Nonetheless, it was to note that 47.6% of the

alumni responded that they had hesitated or delayed taking vaccination. Next, 52.4% of the

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parents answered ‘No’. However, it was necessary to acknowledge that the percentage of the

parents who answered ‘Yes’ were still high, garnering 47.6%. Lastly, the percentage of

employees who answered ‘No’ (86.4%) were significantly higher than those who answered ‘Yes’

(13.6%).

Question 2:

Have you ever refused to get a vaccination for your child or yourself due to reasons

other than allergies and sickness?

Students Alumni Parents Employees

Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

33.3% 66.7% 19% 81% 38.1% 61.9% 18.2% 81.8%

Table 4. Data results of Question 2

When students were asked if they had refused vaccination, 66.7% of them answered that

they had never refused to get vaccinated. Aside from the majority of them have not hesitated or

delayed vaccination, majority of them also do not refuse vaccination in exclusion of allergies and

sickness reasons. For the results of alumni, the majority of them answered ‘no’ (81%). In

addition, the response of the parents that answered ‘No’ have 61.9%. In comparison to the

previous question, although they hesitated or delayed vaccination, they still continued to be

vaccinated and not to refuse the vaccines offered to them. Likewise, 81.8% of employees

answered ‘No’. This implied that the majority of the employees took vaccination in exclusion to

their allergies and sickness reasons.

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4.1.2. Vaccine Confidence

4.1.2.1. Students

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly TOTAL


Statements Agree Disagree

The COVID-19 vaccine is


important to have. 57% 31% 12% 0% 0% 100%
The COVID-19 vaccine is
compatible with my
personal or religious 52% 24% 24% 0% 0% 100%
beliefs.

Strongly Trust Neutral Distrust Strongly TOTAL


Statements Trust Distrust

Healthcare
providers/professionals
(Doctors, Nurses, and 71% 29% 0% 0% 0% 100%
Midwives)
The government gives
sufficient information
regarding COVID-19 0% 5% 45% 33% 17% 100%
vaccination.

Table 5. Student’s Vaccine Confidence

As seen in the table above (Table 5), 57% of the students strongly agreed that COVID-19

vaccines are important to have. While 52% strongly agreed that COVID-19 vaccines are

compatible with their personal or religious beliefs. Moreover, the majority of the students

responded that they strongly trust the healthcare providers/professionals (doctors, nurses and

midwives), having 71% answered. However, when they were asked if they trust the government

in giving sufficient information regarding COVID-19 vaccination, the results varied, having 45%

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of them answered ‘neutral’; 33% answered ‘distrust’; 17% answered ‘strongly distrust’; and, 5%

answered ‘trust.

4.1.2.2. Alumni

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly TOTAL


Statements Agree Disagree

The COVID-19 vaccine is


important to have. 67% 29% 5% 0% 0% 100%
The COVID-19 vaccine is
compatible with my
personal or religious 52% 14% 24% 5% 5% 100%
beliefs.

Strongly Trust Neutral Distrust Strongly TOTAL


Statements Trust Distrust

Healthcare
providers/professionals
(Doctors, Nurses, and 67% 24% 10% 0% 0% 100%
Midwives)
The government gives
sufficient information
regarding COVID-19 5% 0% 29% 33% 33% 100%
vaccination.

Table 6. Alumni’s Vaccine Confidence

For Table 6, 67% of the alumni answered they strongly agree that the COVID-19 vaccine

is important to have. Likewise, when they were asked if the COVID-19 vaccine is compatible

with their personal or religious belief, 52% answered that they strongly agree. In terms of the

degree of trust for the healthcare providers/professionals, 67% strongly trust doctors, nurses and

midwives. However, 66% of the respondents answered they distrust the government in giving

sufficient information regarding the COVID-19 vaccination.

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4.1.2.3. Parents

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly TOTAL


Statements Agree Disagree

The COVID-19 vaccine is


important to have. 52% 14% 29% 5% 0% 100%
The COVID-19 vaccine is
compatible with my
personal or religious 43% 10% 33% 10% 5% 100%
beliefs.

Strongly Trust Neutral Distrust Strongly TOTAL


Statements Trust Distrust

Healthcare
providers/professionals
(Doctors, Nurses, and 67% 10% 29% 0% 0% 100
Midwives)
The government gives
sufficient information
regarding COVID-19 24% 5% 48% 10% 14% 100
vaccination.

Table 7. Parents’ Vaccine Confidence

Table 7 presents the percentage of parents who answered on the likert scale questions in

the questionnaire. As seen above (refer to table 3), 66% of parents think that the COVID-19

vaccine is important to have, while only 5% disagree. Subsequently, 53% of the parents think

that the COVID-19 vaccine intersects with their personal or religious beliefs.

Moreover, their trust in healthcare professionals and the government is indicated above

(refer to table 3). A staggering 77% of parents have faith in healthcare professionals, 29% are

neutral, and none of the parents have no trust in healthcare professionals. Lastly, most of the

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parents (48%) remain neutral on their trust regarding the government, while 29% trust the

government and 24% do not.

4.1.2.4. Employees

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly TOTAL


Statements Agree Disagree

The COVID-19 vaccine is


important to have. 77% 18% 5% 0% 0% 100%
The COVID-19 vaccine is
compatible with my
personal or religious 59% 27% 9% 5% 0% 100%
beliefs.

Strongly Trust Neutral Distrust Strongly TOTAL


Statements Trust Distrust

Healthcare
providers/professionals
(Doctors, Nurses, and 50% 36% 14% 0% 0% 100%
Midwives)
The government gives
sufficient information
regarding COVID-19 0% 9% 32% 50% 9% 100%
vaccination.

Table 8. Employees’ Vaccine Confidence

Table 8 represents the employees’ vaccine confidence. 77% of the respondents answered

that they strongly agree that COVID-19 vaccine is important to have. When asked if COVID-19

vaccine is compatible with their personal or religious belief, 59% answered ‘strongly agree’,

27% ‘agree’, 9% ‘neutral’ and 5% answered ‘disagree’. Furthermore, half of the respondents

answered that they strongly trust healthcare providers/professionals (doctors, nurses, and

midwives). However, when they were asked for their degree of trust in the government in giving

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sufficient information regarding COVID-19 vaccination, half of the respondents answered that

they distrust the government and 32% of the respondents are neutral.

4.1.3. Vaccine Confidence of COVID-19 vaccines

Students Alumni Parents Employees


Brands
Safe Effective Safe Effective Safe Effective Safe Effective

AstraZeneca 38% 36% 81% 76% 48% 43% 41% 36%


-Oxford

Pfizer-BioN 69% 69% 86% 90% 81% 76% 77% 68%


Tech

Novavax 10% 2% 29% 29% 0% 0% 6% 6%

Moderna 31% 36% 76% 81% 43% 48% 50% 46%

Sinovac 19% 14% 10% 10% 5% 5% 0% 5%

Sinopharm 2% 0% 5% 5% 10% 5% 0% 5%

Janssen
(Johnson & 10% 7% 33% 29% 10% 5% 9% 9%
Johnson)

Gamaleya 5% 3% 10% 10% 0% 0% 0% 0%


Institute

Clover 5% 0% 10% 10% 0% 0% 0% 0%

None 21% 21% 10% 10% 5% 5% 9% 18%

Table 9. Results to which COVID-19 vaccines is/are safe and effective.

For students, the most leading COVID-19 vaccine is the Pfizer-BioNtech (69%) as the

safest vaccine for them. Next to Pfizer-BioNTech, the second safest choice is

AstraZeneca-Oxford with 38%. Lastly, the third safest choice is Moderna with 31%. However,

there were also students who answered ‘none’ to this question’ with 21%. Moreover, in terms of

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COVID-19 vaccines that the students think is effective, the top choices are still Pfizer-BioNTech

with 69%, and AstraZeneca-Oxford and Moderna with both 36% respondents.

The alumni’s most picked COVID-19 vaccines in terms of its safety are Pfizer-BioNTech

(86%), AstraZeneca-Oxford (81%), and Moderna (76%). Furthermore, the responses of alumni

in terms of their choice for the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines given. The most picked are

Pfizer-BioNtech with 90%, Moderna with 81%, and AstraZeneca-Oxford with 76%.

Next, the results for the parents’ top choice of which is the safest COVID-19 vaccine for

them are Pfizer-BioNTech (81%), AstraZeneca-Oxford (48%) and Moderna (43%). For

effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, the most popular choice are Pfizer-BioNTech (76%),

Moderna (48%), and AstraZeneca-Oxford (43%).

Lastly, for the LSQC employees, among the given vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech has the

most responses for its safeness (77%). Next to Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna with (50%) and

AstraZeneca-Oxford with (41%). When the employees were asked which of the given

COVID-19 vaccines is/are effective for them, most of them answered Pfizer-BioNTech with

68%. Likewise, Moderna with 46% and AstraZeneca-Oxford with 36%. Nevertheless, it is also

to note that 18% of the respondents answered ‘none’ in terms of the COVID-19 vaccines’

effectiveness.

Overall, the Lourdes School Quezon City community’s ideal vaccine is the vaccine

produced by Pfizer. The reasons behind this are discussed even further through the focus group

discussion and data analysis in this chapter.

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4.2. Focus Group Discussion

The researchers have determined five recurring themes in the focus group discussions

after constant evaluation of the gathered data. These five themes are all common among all of

the stakeholders in the research. For a brief overview of the identified themes, they are: health

and safety, protection for ourselves and for other people (social responsibility), information from

various sources, misinformation or lack of information, and vaccine manufacturers.

4.2.1. Health and Safety

Multiple participants stated that they support the use of vaccines because it is for

prevention. One participant expressed how vaccines serve as a shield. She further added that,

“mas mataas yung chance na magiging safe ka.” (There is still a higher chance that you will be

safe.) Another participant agreed that he supports the use of vaccines because it helps to fight

against viruses. “I support the use of vaccines kase, technically, sa mga ibang diseases, vaccines

na yung pinaka-way para malabanan ng katawan natin yung virus na yon.” (I support the use of

vaccines because, technically, for other diseases, vaccines are the only way to help our body to

fight against these viruses.)

Meanwhile, one participant answered that vaccination provides immunity. “I support

vaccines. I support vaccination simply because it provides us immunity from life threatening

diseases.” Aside from fighting innumerable diseases, they have enunciated that vaccines can also

prevent needless deaths. “Ni-re-reduce nila yung probability ng death.” (It reduces the

probability of deaths.)

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All of these were then summarized by a participant who has done his own research

regarding plagues that occurs throughout the history. He said:

“If we look at it, there are multiple instances, wherein large chunks of the

population within a certain civilization or region were wiped out because of diseases.

Now that we actually have a way in order to prevent those large scale deaths and

catastrophes from happening, I don’t think there’s any reason why we should not make

use of it and prevent unnecessary loss of life from occurring throughout the globe.”

In relation to SAGE Working Group 3Cs model of vaccine hesitancy (WHO, 2014), this

theme mostly leaning towards vaccine confidence. As by definition, vaccine confidence is

defined as trust in three dimensions in terms of taking vaccines, one of each is the effectiveness

and safety that the vaccines provide for the people. With that said, it is to say that the participants

support the use of vaccines as it provides safeness to them.

True enough, as early as the 1700s, vaccines were developed to help the people suffering

from diseases (Markel & Stern, 2005). According to CDC and WHO (2015), vaccines can

prevent over 24 diseases. It could also be noted that there are diseases that could have been

prevented with vaccines such as measles and polio. Moreover, as these participants show their

support in using vaccines in general, it only shows how important vaccination is. Justifiably, in

relation to Racomora (2020), vaccines are the most effective way to combat disease, which was

the reason why people live longer. Nonetheless, despite the importance of vaccination, people are

still not confident in getting vaccinated. This resulted in a decrease in the rate of vaccination

within the Philippines in recent years. This is mostly because the risks and side-effects of a

vaccine made the people hesitant on getting vaccinated. With that said, aside from their reason

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that they will support the use of vaccines for health and safety purposes, it will still depend on

the risks of the certain vaccine they will take.

With regard to the vaccines the participants were willing to take, it would be

Pfizer-BioNTech, as reflected in the quantitative data of this paper. However, their other options

are the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine and Moderna vaccine, if ever Pfizer-BioNTech is

unavailable, as it ranks in the top 3 vaccines that have the highest responses. Moreover,

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had the most answers when they were asked which of the given

COVID-19 vaccines they think are safe and effective. Indeed, among the given COVID-19

vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech has the highest (95%) efficacy rate.

4.2.2. Protection for one’s self and for other people—Social responsibility

Based on the focus group discussion results, another prevailing notion of the participants

is that they support the use of vaccines as they view it as a social responsibility. In line with this,

one of the participants stated that she supports the use of vaccines as she believes that if she

would not get herself vaccinated, she might not only be the one affected. “Kung hindi ako

magpapa-vaccine, hindi lang naman ako yung maaapektuhan kung magkakasakit ako.

Maapektuhan din yung pamilya ko, friends.” (If I will not be vaccinated, I will not only be the

one affected if I will get sick. My family and friends will also be affected.) She further explained

that people must also think about others. “Responsibilidad mo as a person. Responsibilidad mo

na hindi lang ikaw yung iisipin mo, kundi pang lahatan din.” (Your responsibility as a

person—responsibility that you do not only think about yourself, but everyone as well.) Same

goes to another participant who agreed that it is necessary to be vaccinated for the same reason,

“Parang need talaga siyang i-take. Kasi, you’re not only protecting yourself, you’re also

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protecting the people around you.” (I think vaccines are necessary to take. In this way, you are

not only protecting yourself, you are also protecting the people around you.)

Correspondingly, another participant thought that being vaccinated is important as this

will provide him and other people safety from diseases, he claimed:

“I think it is important for me, to be vaccinated because, actually hindi lang para

sa akin, well personally para syempre safe ako from construction of whatever virus, of

the context of the pandemic ngayon, I guess I think it is important for everyone, not just

myself, so that we may be able to return to our normal ways and to fix our economy… as

it looks right now, this is the only way for us to be able to recover, so this is the first step.”

(I think it is important for me, to be vaccinated because, actually not only for me, well

personally so that I am safe from construction of whatever virus, of the context of the

current pandemic, I guess I think it is important for everyone, not just myself, so that we

may be able to return to our normal ways and to fix our economy… as it looks right now,

this is the only way for us to be able to recover, so this is the first step.)

One more participant expresses how he could help in the community by being

vaccinated, he explained:

“I think it’s important to maka-contribute ka doon sa herd immunity ng isang population,

which for example, 95% of the population being vaccinated. And in the way, siguro, if I show

that I’m… maganda yung perception ko towards this vaccine, other people might also take it, in

return mapoprotektahan nito yung buong population in a way.” (I think it’s important if you

could contribute to a population’s herd immunity, for example, 95% of the population being

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vaccinated. And in the way, maybe, if I show that I have a great perception towards this vaccine,

other people might also take it, in return this will protect the whole population in a way.)

As by the SAGE WG’s 3Cs model of vaccine hesitancy (WHO, 2014), this theme

embraces the category of vaccine complacency. The factors under vaccine complacency is

evident in the answers of the participants as it includes other life or health responsibilities,

immunization programs and self-efficacy. This suggests that the participants apprehend that

vaccines are used to protect one’s self and other people or as what they have said, “a social

responsibility”. The participants know that they can help themselves and other people by getting

vaccinated. In that sense, they can either influence other people or promote herd immunity. As

stated by a participant, “We’ll also be protecting those who cannot actually be vaccinated by

trying to promote herd immunity within the population.” With that, the chances that people will

get affected with the disease will decrease.

4.2.3. Information from various sources (Sciences, Healthworkers, News, Social Media etc.)

One factor that helps these participants to support the use of vaccines is from the

information from various sources. According to one participant, he explained that he based his

decision on taking a certain vaccine on studies, data, and from scientists and doctors. It is

important to note that most of the participants have answered that they mostly rely on the

information regarding COVID-19 vaccines to their family members, relatives and/or friends that

are healthcare workers or health professionals. As a participants expounded his reasons why, he

said, “...Of course, doctors yung mga nagsusupport sa mga vaccines na yun, syempre kasi, field

nila yun so they would know if it’s really going to help me to fight the certain virus or diseases.”

(...Of course, Doctors are the one who supports the vaccines. Of course, because it is their field

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so it is expected that they would know if it [that certain vaccine] is really going to help me fight

against a certain virus or disease.) Another participant said that he asked his doctors friends and

relatives. “Number 1, I asked my doctor friends; number 2 I asked my relatives na frontliners na

nasa ibang bansa na nagpa-vaccine na; and number 3 I let myself be updated sa mga bagong

development sa vaccine sa internet.” (Number 1, I asked my doctor friend; number 2, I asked my

vaccinated frontliner relative that lives in another country; and number 3, I let myself be updated

regarding the new development of vaccines on the internet.)

Although there are various factors that contribute to the perspective of the people on why

they are taking that particular vaccine, it is still important to evaluate these vaccines. A

participant expounded on how he evaluates a vaccine, “How much research has been put into it?

Tapos, how safe it is? Tapos yung...clinical trials. And syempre yung effectivity nung

vaccine.”(How much research has been put into it? Then, how safe is it? Then, the clinical trial.

And, of course, the effectiveness of that particular vaccine.) Aside from the research, studies and

the like, it is also important for them to have proof of effectiveness. “...’Yung research paper na

rin na nagsta-state na effective yung vaccine na ‘to and if it’s good. Pinaka-last siguro is yung

proofs. Proofs na effective yung vaccine na ‘yon. Let’s say na siguro, a person testimony doon sa

mga nauna na nagtake ng vaccine.” (...The research paper can state the effectiveness of a

vaccine and if it is good. Lastly, proofs. Proofs if that particular vaccine is effective. Let’s say, a

person testimony after taking that vaccine.)

In addition, social media is also a factor of these participants on thinking or deciding

about taking a vaccine. It is to note that social media has such a great influence on them.

Howbeit, according to a participant, social media is not a good source of information nowadays.

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With that, it is important to find reputable sources from the internet most especially in regard to

COVID-19 vaccines, he said:

“I let myself be updated sa mga bagong development sa vaccine sa internet,

minsan sa social media. ‘Yung problema lang sa social media, hindi mo alam kung totoo

ba siya or hindi, so tumitingin ako doon sa mga reputable website kagaya ng mga

newspaper website tungkol sa mga development sa vaccine.” (I let myself be updated on

the new development of vaccines in the internet, sometimes in social media. However,

the problem in social media is that you do not know if it is true or not, so I look for

reputable websites such as newspaper websites about the developments of the vaccine.)

Another participant expressed that he considers education as part of the factors

contributed to his perspective regarding vaccination:

“I consider education to be a very big factor here...If we take a look back in

history, there were instances in the old days, yung hindi pa refined yung medicine natin,

the entire population were gutted down since rampant yung mga virus. Today, we actually

have cures for those diseases and I don’t see any reason at all to reject vaccination dahil

supposedly ini-educate lahat ng tao tungkol sa benefits ng vaccine.” (I consider education

to be a very big factor here...If we take a look back in history, there were instances in the

old days, where medicine was not yet refined as it is now, the entire population was

gutted down since viruses are rampant. Today, we actually have cures for those diseases

and I don’t see any reason at all to reject vaccination because supposedly, people should

be educated regarding the benefits of vaccines.)

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In terms of the 3Cs model of vaccine hesitancy (WHO, 2014), vaccine confidence is also

shown in this theme. This theme shows the participants’ trust in the system that delivers the

vaccine, including the reliability and competence of the health services and health professionals.

It should be emphasized that many of the participants rely their information on their family

members, relatives and/or friends that are health professionals or healthcare workers. In relation

to the results of the quantitative survey about the degree of trust the participants have in the

system that delivers vaccines, it shows significant results as all the stakeholders strongly trust

health professionals. Furthermore, when they were asked to explain their answer, they answered

that they trust them because they are knowledgeable and they have more experience in regards to

vaccines and vaccination.

Moreover, from the SAGE WG model of determinants (WHO, 2014), it discussed the

influences of taking a vaccine in terms of contextual, individual and group, and vaccine or

vaccination. The most applicable for this theme is the contextual influences. Contextual

influences are defined as the influences arising due to the historic, socio-cultural, environmental,

health, system/institutional, economic, or political factors. Communication and media

environment is the most relevant category in the results of this FGD. The influence of the media

played a big role in giving out information to the people. In this theme, information was highly

imparted by the internet, researches and health professionals. To add, the vaccine/vaccination

category can also be included under this theme. In researching about a certain vaccine, it is

important to read about the risk and benefit (epidemiological and scientific evidence) of that

vaccine, the design of vaccination program or mode of delivery (e.g., routine program or mass

vaccination campaign), the reliability and/or source of supply of vaccine and/or vaccination

equipment, and the cost of a vaccine for further information.

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4.2.4. Misinformation or lack of information

A common answer across all stakeholders during the focus group discussions were there

were various misinformation and/or lack of information that plague social media and other

various information sources such as the government. This prompted most of the stakeholders to

have a lack of trust or have no trust at all in the government and their campaign against

COVID-19. Additionally, they also mentioned that government information about COVID-19

vaccines affects their perception in being inoculated because government officials have

contradicting ideas regarding vaccination. “Medyo iba iba kasi...kay Duterte iba yung sinasabi…

kay Roque iba yung sinasabi… si Duque so parang di consistent” (The information varies…

Duterte and Roque have different ideas, Duque, so it is kind of inconsistent). Most participants

also mentioned that they do not trust the government in providing information regarding

COVID-19 vaccines because they have other motives aside from just the general health of the

public (i.e. economic reasons).

In an article from Rappler.com (2021), they fact-checked information from a government

official regarding China’s Sinovac. The official said that two doses of Sinovac yields 100%

efficacy, which was then proven false by Jerome Sagcal and said, “Vaccination with CoronaVac

requires two doses. A 100% efficacy rate would therefore be impossible as two doses of

CoronaVac is required to achieve its 50.4%-91.25% efficacy.”

Lack of understanding makes it difficult to curb the fear of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar stated that

the Filipinos’ lack of knowledge regarding COVID-19 remains to be a “widespread problem”

despite the efforts done to provide verified information to sway public fears. Additionally,

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Andanar (2021) acknowledged that the lack of understanding as well as the spread of malicious

false information contribute to the factors why Filipinos are hesitant to get inoculated. One of the

participants from the focus group discussions mentioned that they do not want to become

inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine and suggested using wheat grains to strengthen the

immune system to protect oneself from COVID-19. This information is unverified and not

scientifically proven to be effective.

Meanwhile, in relation to the quantitative survey results regarding the degree of trust of

the respondents if the government gives sufficient information regarding COVID-19 vaccination,

their answers vary from being neutral, distrust and strongly distrust. This can be said that the

government can help the people to get vaccinated if ever they provide factual and sufficient

information to the public. They can also help in clarifying misconceptions about the COVID-19

vaccines that is circulating through social media.

4.2.5. Vaccine Manufacturers

It is public knowledge that there are various pharmaceutical companies that are

developing their own vaccine for COVID-19. The survey results of this study determined that the

majority of the Lourdes School Quezon City community identified Pfizer’s, Moderna’s, and

AstraZeneca-Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine to be safe and effective. When participants were

asked in the focus group discussion regarding the vaccine procured by the Quezon City Local

Government (AstraZeneca-Oxford), the answers were mixed. Some were hesitant due to their

lack of knowledge regarding the vaccine by AstraZeneca-Oxford, and some were approved with

getting inoculated with the aforementioned vaccine. As one participant voiced:

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“As much as possible, ang pinaka gusto kong vaccine na makuha is Pfizer or Moderna

pero kung kailangan na kumuha, then I wouldn’t really have a problem getting [a

vaccine] sa AstraZeneca. Just anything, anything basta hindi China and I’m pretty fine

with it.” (As much as possible, the vaccine that I want to be inoculated with is either

Pfizer or Moderna, however if there is a need to become inoculated then I wouldn’t really

have a problem getting a vaccine from AstraZeneca, just anything, anything, as long as it

is not from China, I am fine with it.)

Another participant also exclaimed that a factor that influences her to get vaccinated is

the manufacturer of the vaccine. She said:

“...depends on the pharmaceutical company, siyempre pipiliin ko yung may probability,

pagdumating na yung time na yun—wala pa naman sa Pinas e’ diba? Alam ko yung

meron sa Pinas yung sa china diba, hindi ako magpapavaccine pag china, pero kapag

meron na at makakapili ka na at kung kailangang kailangan na kase kapag next year nag

face-to-face na dito sa school or blended na, malamang we have to be vaccinated, siguro

before the time comes, I would have to choose na, and before choosing, I need to find out

ano-ano yan at ano-ano yang mga pharmaceutical companies at doon ako magdedecide

ano ba yung credible diyan.” (It depends on the pharmaceutical company, of course I will

choose the one that has the probability [to be procured by the Philippines], if that time

comes—there are none, as of the moment, in the Philippines right? I know that only

China [vaccines] are currently here in the Philippines, I will not get myself vaccinated if

it’s from China; however, if there are more options and you are free to choose and if it’s

really needed—especially since if the next school year will already be face-to-face or

blended, we have to be vaccinated. Maybe, before the time comes, I would have to

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choose already, but before choosing, I need to find out what vaccines are made available

and what different pharmaceutical companies are there and that’s when I will decide

what’s credible among those vaccines.)

Moreover, before Sinovac arrived in the Philippines, the respondents expressed their

dislike towards the vaccine. The survey results appeared that only 8.5% of the respondents think

that Sinovac vaccines are safe and effective. It is because the efficacy rate against COVID-19 is

approximately 50% to 80%, as they expressed in the essay portion of the survey.

“Aside from the sketchy and clearly politically motivated decision of picking the Sinovac

vaccine, which has not yet completed Phase 3 Trials and has the lowest efficacy rate, the

government has done counterproductive actions in raising the people's trust in its vaccine

distribution program such as the smuggling of other vaccines, denial to public injection,

etc.”

With this, aside from its low efficacy rate, people see that with the government promoting

the Sinovac vaccine, this has led them to refuse getting vaccinated with the said vaccine. As said

by them, it is a politically motivated decision.

These preceding statements align greatly with the gathered data from the qualitative

segment of the research study. In the survey questionnaire, participants were asked to determine

which pharmaceutical companies produced the safest and most effective vaccine and to state a

reason for their choice. Their reasons for choosing the aforementioned pharmaceutical

companies as the safest and most effective vaccines commonly revolved around their trust in the

vaccine manufacturer, and the vaccine’s efficacy rate. Nevertheless, it is to emphasize that the

participants are still undecided on what or from what vaccine manufacturers they are going to get

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the COVID-19 vaccine for them, but it is clear that they refuse to get vaccinated to any China

brand vaccines. Through this data, the researchers conceptualized that the vaccine confidence of

the Lourdes School Quezon City community is affected by certain vaccine manufacturers.

4.3 Discussion of survey results

The first two questions from the survey questionnaire is to measure the vaccine hesitancy

of the LSQC community. When the researchers asked the respondents if they have ever

hesitated/delayed and refused vaccination, it resulted that most of them had never

hesitated/delayed and refused vaccination. This indicates that the majority of the Lourdes School

Quezon City community receives the idea of vaccines in a positive manner and are quite

confident regarding that subject. Consequently, according to the data gathered on September 16

to 20 by the National Mobile Phone Survey of SWS, the majority of adult Filipinos (66%) are

willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This data, gathered on aligns and surpasses the

gathered quantitative data of this research study. The results of this study state that more than

half of the Lourdes School Quezon City community or 87.8 percent of the surveyed sample

agrees that the COVID-19 vaccine is important to have. This data is substantial and would most

certainly push for further research regarding the topic of vaccines surrounding the Lourdes

School Quezon City community. It is also important to accredit that the answers of each

stakeholder do not deviate that much from each other. After the evaluation and thorough analysis

of the data, it was determined that the majority of the sampled population, all stakeholders

considered, have similar ideas regarding vaccine hesitancy and vaccine confidence.

In addition, the survey results of this research study contrasts the recent survey performed

by Pulse Asia regarding the willingness of Filipinos to take the COVID-19 vaccines. The survey

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was done on the 23rd of November and 2nd of December, in which 84% of the respondents were

unsure of the safety of the vaccines being developed. Contrary to this, the gathered data from the

survey of this study states that only a small portion of the Lourdes School Quezon City

community or 26.5% of the sampled population are unsure of the safety and efficacy of the

COVID-19 vaccines being developed. The opposition of percentages between these data results

were maybe due to multiple factors namely (1) number of surveyed participants, (2) religious

perspective, and (3) the participants’ knowledge regarding the topic.

To further elaborate, the number of surveyed participants in the study were significantly

different from the Pulse Asia’s survey. The study only had 106 participants from the LSQC

community while Pulse Asia’s survey had 2,400 participants nationwide. Secondly, the religious

perspective of most of the study’s participants do not contravene with the concept of vaccination.

This is also because the school is a Catholic institution, which made the researchers assume most

of the participants are Catholic; the researchers did not also include religion as part of the

sample’s demographic. Lastly, the participants’ knowledge regarding the topic differs. Withal,

most of the surveyed participants were professionals including teachers, healthcare professionals,

school administrators, and the like. The study also has students who have sufficient knowledge

about the significance and objectives of various COVID-19 vaccines. In essence, this contrasting

data is considerable evidence that the general majority of the Lourdes School Quezon City

community is confident regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

In terms of the degree of trust, which measured the vaccine confidence of the LSQC

community, it tackles their trust in the COVID-19 vaccines, trust in the system that delivers

vaccines and trust in motivations of the policy-makers who decide on the needed vaccines. The

results ruled out that they strongly trust in the COVID-19 vaccines and that COVID-19 vaccines

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are very compatible with their personal and religious belief. However, a huge disparity is present

between the two data. The results should not be doubted since the question regarding the

COVID-19 vaccine importance should be answered for the general people. In this case, most of

the respondents think that COVID-19 vaccine is necessary for the people to have. In contrast, the

question regarding how the COVID-19 vaccine is compatible with the respondents’ personal or

religious beliefs should be answered personally. This question is also the same with their

willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Since most of them answered that the COVID-19

vaccine is very compatible with their personal and religious beliefs, it also means that they are

willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Although it should also be taken into consideration that

not all of them agreed to it, which means there are still people doubtful to take the COVID-19

vaccine. With this, it could be deduced that the level of acceptors with doubts are prevalent truly

within these certain data results.

When they are asked what specific vaccine/s they think is/are safe and/or effective,

Pfizer-BioNTech is the one leading. Knowing that the efficacy rate of the Pfizer-BioNTech

vaccine is 95%, it is mostly the choice of the respondents. Obviously, aside from the efficacy

rates, it appears that they trust the vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech because the

manufacturing company is trusted and well-known. Their judgement towards the vaccine is also

based on research studies, news, social media, etc.

Moreover, the results regarding the respondents’ trust in healthcare professionals who

deliver vaccines is incredibly high, which means the majority of the stakeholders strongly trust

doctors, nurses, and midwives. According to the respondents, the main reasons why they trust the

healthcare workers are because they are knowledgeable, they have more experience and they

have relatives that are medical practitioners or they, themselves, are medical practitioners. In the

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FGD interview, many of them said that they rely on the information regarding COVID-19

vaccines on their friends and relatives that are doctors or in the field of medicine.

On the controversial question, when respondents asked about their trust in the

government in giving sufficient information regarding the COVID-19 vaccines, their answers

surprisingly varied. Students and alumni resulted to be neutral and parents distrust the

government. Meanwhile, the employees equally resulted in distrust and strongly distrust the

government. Indeed, the government will be facing a huge challenge in convincing their people

to get vaccinated as claimed by Dr. Lulu Bravo, executive director of Philippine Foundation for

Vaccination (PFV) (Rocamora, 2020), and Heidi Larson, founder of the Vaccine Confidence

Project (Larson, 2020). With that, the government’s role in providing accurate information is a

must and should be taken seriously. According to the respondent, the government misinforms the

people or is lacking information concerning the COVID-19 number of cases and vaccines.

Likewise, a participant expressed how the government lacks transparency when it comes to

vaccines. It is also a big factor that most of them do not trust the government because they

suggested Sinovac vaccines to the public knowing that it has a 50% to 70% efficacy rate against

COVID-19, she said:

“Further, although vaccines are of high need these days, the president really wanted for

the people to get the Sinovac vaccine despite its low efficacy rate, which is 50.4% despite having

vaccines such as moderna and pfizer that have high efficacy rates.”

With that, it is not shocking anymore to know that there are still Filipinos who are not

convinced to get vaccinated against COVID-19 disease because of the lack of information or

misinformation circulating the internet (i.e. social media) and even from the government. As

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Heidi Larson had said (2020), aside from the unproven vaccine safety scare that leads people to

doubt and distrust vaccines, it is critical that the government and private sectors come together to

build confidence and ensure that manufacturing capacity meets the global supply of a COVID-19

vaccination program.

After data gathering and analysis, the researchers have conceptualized that the Lourdes

School Quezon City community’s vaccine confidence is affected by only two factors from SAGE

Working Group’s 3Cs. The respondents’ vaccine confidence is affected by the vaccine’s

convenience to the people and the people’s confidence regarding a certain vaccine. Overall, the

respondents are not complacent in terms of looking for information regarding the vaccines being

produced by various pharmaceutical companies, and this is evident through their answers in the

essay portion of the paper. As discussed previously, the respondents have researched and/or have

heard of information regarding vaccines and have chosen to process and absorb this information

to consider getting inoculated. With this, their overall level of vaccine confidence (in terms of

vaccine hesitancy) is no vaccine hesitancy at all, and acceptors with doubts. Only a small

percentage of the respondents could be classified as delayers and refusers, this is in terms of

other vaccines (MMR, flu, etc.) and not in terms of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The stakeholders’ ideal vaccine, based on survey results, is Pfizer-BioNTech’s

COVID-19 vaccine. However, if the situation arises wherein the Philippines is not able to

procure the sufficient amount of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines for the general public, the Lourdes

School Quezon City community chose AstraZeneca and Moderna as their alternative vaccine.

According to survey results, Pfizer is ranked first universally, while AstraZeneca and Moderna

are either ranked second or third depending on the stakeholder. Although due to the indemnity

law, there has been a hindrance for the arrival for the said vaccine manufacturers, most especially

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Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine. It is also worth mentioning that the best vaccine is the

vaccine on-hand (Tomacruz, 2021). Even if the respondents have preferences, they cannot wait

anymore for their preferred vaccine to come.

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Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

This chapter provided the overall summary of the paper, which included the description

of what the study is all about, its objectives, its significance, and the limitations the group

encountered while conducting the study. Moreover, this chapter presented the paper’s

conclusions, which addressed the value or implications of the whole study. Likewise, research

questions were answered and discussed in this part of the paper. Lastly, this chapter also covered

multiple recommendations for future research studies.

5.1. Summary and Conclusion

This research paper identified and measured deeply the vaccine confidence of the

Lourdes School Quezon City community towards the 2019 Novel Coronavirus vaccines. With

that, the researchers aimed to deepen the knowledge of the LSQC community about vaccine

confidence, to define the topic of vaccine confidence, to inform the LSQC community regarding

the topic of vaccines, and to know the factors affecting the confidence of vaccine usage within

the community. Regarding the study’s research questions, it was of utmost importance to answer

the following:

(1) What is the level of vaccine confidence awareness of the Lourdes School Quezon City

community?

(2) What are the factors affecting vaccine confidence within the Lourdes School Quezon

City community?

Moreover, the challenge that the researchers encountered while writing their research

paper was the topic itself. Since the study tackled the COVID-19 vaccines, they had to update

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themselves and their paper regularly as it is known that the matters encompassing this specified

topic is evolving constantly.

The research utilized a mixed-method approach, meaning both quantitative and

qualitative procedures were employed in the study. The survey questionnaires were distributed to

the participants and accounted for the quantitative data, while the qualitative data was generated

through the follow-up focus group discussions. To analyze the data for the survey questions, the

researchers used a descriptive type of statistical analysis. While for the qualitative part of the

study, the researchers used thematic analysis. The results for the qualitative data were based on

the 3Cs model and model of determinants from the SAGE Working Group.

The results for the quantitative data appeared that 87.8% of the LSQC community agrees

that the COVID-19 vaccine is important to have; however, 26.5% were unsure of the safety and

efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. With the continuous surge of COVID-19 cases and

emergence of various COVID-19 variants, people are desperate to get vaccinated; developing

immunity from the on-going pandemic. Through this, available vaccines are well-recognized as

an additional tool to contribute in controlling the pandemic and putting an end to this crisis. To

pay attention to the 26.5% respondents that are unsure of the safety and efficacy of the

COVID-19 vaccines, this could be because they lack knowledge concerning the topic and/or they

do not believe in the science of vaccines. Either way, it is reassuring to conclude that the

majority of the LSQC community agrees that the COVID-19 vaccine is important to have.

Moreover, the COVID-19 vaccines are very compatible with most of the respondents’

personal or religious beliefs. As aforementioned within the discussion, this means that the

respondents are willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Although it should also be taken into

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consideration that not all of them agreed to it, which means there are still people who are

doubtful to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The factors as to why the respondents doubt getting

vaccinated are the five identified factors affecting their vaccine confidence.

For the specific vaccine/s the respondents think is/are safe and/or effective,

Pfizer-BioNTech is the leading pharmaceutical manufacturer among the vaccines that were

procured by the Philippines, second is AstraZeneca-Oxford, and third is Moderna. However,

even if the respondents have preferences, it is likely that they would not get their preferred

vaccine brand due to different circumstances such as having limited vaccine doses, prioritizing

vulnerable groups, delaying the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, and the like. As said by Galvez,

there is no best vaccine because the best vaccine is the vaccine on-hand.

Meanwhile, the result regarding the respondents’ trust in healthcare professionals who

deliver vaccines is incredibly high (90.57%). This only means that the LSQC community does

not question the professionalism of the healthcare professionals responsible for administering the

COVID-19 vaccines.

Lastly, the degree of trust of the respondents to the policy makers resulted in either

neutral, distrust, or strongly distrust. This justifies the government’s action regarding their

response towards COVID-19 vaccination is insufficient and inconsistent. Indeed, the government

is facing a huge challenge in convincing the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Overall, the preceding results were meant to answer the first research question regarding

the level of vaccine confidence within the community. With that, it appears that the LSQC

community categorized as no vaccine hesitancy at all and acceptors with doubts. This concludes

that the LSQC community is willing to participate in the inoculation of the COVID-19 vaccines.

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For the qualitative data, these aided the researchers to identify the factors affecting the

vaccine confidence within the LSQC community. They were able to classify the data into 5

factors namely, (1) health and safety, (2) protection for one’s self and for other people, (3)

information from other sources, (4) lack of information and (5) vaccine manufacturers.

The first factor is the health and safety where the participants expressed that vaccines

serve as a shield. As a matter of fact, vaccines provide protection and immunity against different

diseases. For protection for one’s self and for other people, it was discussed that it is a social

responsibility as to why people get vaccinated. This is one of many ways in developing herd

immunity within a given population. Next, information from other sources is another factor that

this study identified. Most of the participants' decision on taking a certain vaccine was based on

research, data, and from scientists and doctors. Social media, news reports/updates, and

government information are also where the participants rely their information. Fourth, the

participants expressed that although they have been researching regarding COVID-19 vaccines,

there is still a lack of information, most especially with the government’s misleading information

regarding the said topic. Lack of understanding makes it difficult to curb the fear of the

COVID-19 vaccine. Lastly, the vaccine manufacturers are part of the identified factors affecting

the vaccine confidence of the community. The participants have preferred vaccines in mind;

however, some of them are still undecided since they have little to no knowledge regarding

COVID-19 vaccines. Overall, these factors, as mentioned previously, are the reason why the

community were categorized as acceptors with doubts.

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5.2. Recommendations

As of current writing, the vaccine rollout program of the Philippines has launched and

most of the people on the priority list (healthworkers) are getting vaccinated. The paper had

concluded that the level of vaccine confidence of the LSQC community is no vaccine hesitancy

at all and acceptors with doubts, they recommend that a future research study could tackle the

effects of the aforementioned vaccine confidence levels to the current vaccine confidence of the

population now that the vaccine rollout program had started. Additionally, people’s preference in

vaccine manufacturers might also change once the vaccine rollout has launched; as such, the

researchers also recommend to study the effects of the vaccine rollout to the vaccine preference

of individuals.

Since the start of the vaccination rollout program, a few side effects have surfaced

regarding the vaccine of certain manufacturers. When the data gathering procedure commenced,

the vaccine rollout program had not yet been launched. As a result, the researchers failed to

consider whether or not side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine would have an effect on an

individual’s vaccine confidence. They recommend that a future study could consider the side

effects as a possible factor for vaccine confidence.

The study’s scope was limited only to the Lourdes School Quezon City community.

Hence the paper is not representative for the whole population of Quezon City or the Philippines

if the topic is on a much larger scale. The researchers recommend that a new study with the same

premise should be conducted on a much larger scale, where it is no longer confined in a school

setting. This enables the future researchers to obtain the perspective of multiple kinds of people

from different backgrounds. The school and/or future researchers may integrate their study with

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their local barangay’s programs and tackle the topic of vaccine confidence at a much larger scale.

Additionally, given that it is a priority to achieve herd immunity, it is important to know the

vaccine confidence level of individuals at a much larger scale.

Furthermore, it is to be considered that new COVID-19 variants have emerged and it is

important to know which vaccine could prevent individuals from acquiring a certain COVID-19

variant. This topic is unfortunately not part of the scope of the study as when the study started no

known COVID-19 variant had been identified. However, as of current writing, all COVID-19

variants are present in the Philippines. This is one of the reasons why it is highly recommended

for future research to dwell more on studying or developing variant-specific vaccines.

Furthermore, this is a factor that a future research study could consider because it could affect

how the general population receives a vaccine from various vaccine manufacturers.

Once again, the researchers accomplished this study with the aim of not only helping the

health sector of the Lourdes School Quezon City, but the general public as well. With this, they

recommend that the LSQC clinic utilize this study if they are going to procure and offer the

COVID-19 vaccine/s to the school body and other people outside the community. This paper

would also enlighten the clinic staff with regards to the vaccine confidence of the Lourdes

School Quezon City Community. Likewise, the LSQC’s health sector could use this research

study to organize an online campaign on vaccines, especially on COVID-19 vaccines, with the

objectives of promoting vaccination and educating the Lourdesian community and the general

public; hence, broadening their knowledge and perspective regarding the importance of being

vaccinated during this time.

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Appendix A: Survey Questionnaire

The intended tool to be used by the researchers are still pending approval from the original
authors of the tool. The tool, which is created by Du, F. et al (2020), is presented in this section
of the paper for reference purposes only.

3.7.1 Vaccine hesitancy (3 items)


YES NO
Have you ever hesitated/delayed about getting a vaccination for
your child or yourself due to reasons other than allergies and
sickness and then proceeded with the vaccination?

YES NO
Have you ever refused to get a vaccination for your child or
yourself due to reasons other than allergies and sickness?

3.7.2 Vaccine confidence (3 dimensions of trust)

Degree of trust in vaccines

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly


disagree Agree

The COVID-19 vaccine is


important to have.

The COVID-19 vaccine is


compatible with my personal or
religious beliefs.

Which COVID-19 vaccine/s do you think is/are safe? (Check the boxes that applies)

❏ AstraZeneca-Oxford
❏ Pfizer-BioNTech
❏ Novavax
❏ Moderna
❏ Sinovac
❏ Sinopharm
❏ Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)

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❏ Gamaleya Institute
❏ Clover
❏ None

Which COVID-19 vaccine/s do you think is/are effective? (Check the boxes that applies)

❏ AstraZeneca-Oxford
❏ Pfizer-BioNTech
❏ Novavax
❏ Moderna
❏ Sinovac
❏ Sinopharm
❏ Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)
❏ Gamaleya Institute
❏ Clover
❏ None

Why did you think this/these vaccine/s is/are effective and safe?
If you checked ‘None’, why?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Degree of trust in the system that delivers vaccines

**Please estimate your degree of trust in the following sources regarding vaccination
information and services they provided.**

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Distrust Neutral Trust Strongly


Distrust Trust

Healthcare providers/professions
(Doctors, Nurses, Midwives)

Explain your answer.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

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Degree of trust in motivations of the policy-makers who decide on the needed vaccines

Please estimate your degree of trust in the government regarding vaccination information it
provided.

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Distrust Neutral Trust Strongly


Distrust Trust

The government gives sufficient


information regarding the
COVID-19 vaccination.

Explain your answer.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

3.7.5 FGD Questions

1. Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not? Sinusuportahan mo ba

ang pagpapabakuna? Kung oo, bakit; Kung hindi, bakit hindi?

2. Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Sa iyong paningin, importante o kailangan ba ang pagpapabakuna? Kung oo, bakit?

Kung hindi, bakit hindi?

3. What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination? Anong mga

kadahilanan kung bakit ganoon ang iyong pananaw sa pagpapabakuna?

4. Are you willing to take COVID-19 vaccine? Handa ka bang magpabakuna laban sa

COVID-19?

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Appendix B: FGD Transcription

This section is transcribed from the focus group discussion interview of 20 participants (5 per

stakeholders namely students, alumni, parents, and employees).

GROUP 1

Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

GM: For me, yes. Kasi...why do I support it?...for health and safety purposes. Syempre gusto ko
ngayon na mas safe ako around other people and my family ganon. Tapos gusto ko rin matapos
na yung COVID era ngayong 2021 ganyan. Tapos tinitignan ko rin yung bigger picture...kasi
what if ma-hospitalized ka because of COVID? Syempre mas mahal pa yun kesa naman
magpa-vaccine ka na ngayon. Syempre mas makakamura ka. Pero part of me is still scared with
the COVID vaccine kasi syempre meron paring possible negative side effects and results.

SU: Ako naman...yes din. Kasi lahat naman tayo nagtutulungan dito tsaka kung hindi ako
magpapavaccine, hindi lang naman ako yung maaapektuhan kung magkakasakit ako.
Maapektuhan din yung pamilya ko, friends. Yun na...katulad nung kung pano nagstart yung
pandemic, kumalat na ng kumalat. Tsaka hindi rin naman siya para sa akin lang, para sa
ikabubuti ng lahat.

KM: Ahm, siguro dun sa vaccines...yes, dapat. I agree on the use of vaccines. Dapat everyone
should be vaccinated. Pero dun sa current vaccine na nilalabas ngayon, may mga vaccines
na...very understudied kaya sa tingin ko...people should be...have a right to be wary of those
vaccines.

Vaccines in general. Willing pa rin ba kayong magtake nung mga ganong vaccines or
sinusupport mo pa rin ba yung mga vaccines na yun? For example, flu vaccines or polio?

SU: Yes. Kasi ano...katulad nung sinabi ni G...kasi ano...yung sa...dulo rin ikaw...parang
prevention din kasi siya eh. Parang imbis na ikaw lang...imbis na lumala pa... Sabi nga nila,
“prevention is better than cure”.

GM: For me, yes din sa ibang klase ng vaccines. Kasi ayun nga...katulad ng sinabi ko. Mas better
if gagamitin din siyang pang-prevent dun sa mga paggagamitan niya. Like yung sakit, like polio,
flu ganyan. Instead na magspend pa tayo ng pera pang-hospitalized ganon.

Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

GM: Ahm...for me, yes. Kasi, for me, vaccines serve as a shield. Kunwari sa COVID-19
vaccines, hindi lang naman kasi airborne ang COVID, diba? Pwede rin siyang person to person
or like sa mga things na hinahawakan natin. Kunwari mas prone siya sa metals, kumakapit sa
metals. Ahm...for me, kahit magpa-vaccine ka or kahit hindi ka magpa-vaccine, hindi lang

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

naman yung ibang tao yung makakacommunicate mo. Pwede kang ma-transmit ng disease
ganyan. For me, kapagnakapagpa-vaccine ka, mas mataas yung chance na magiging safe ka.
Hindi lang sa ibang tao kundi pati na rin sa sarili mo, sa mga surroundings mo. So ayun...safety
purposes rin
SU: Ako naman...yes din. Kasi ano, vaccines make you healthy. Kasi...katulad sa flu vaccines,
imbis na...syempre sayang yung time na mag-aab-...kunwari you’re a student, sayang yung time
mo kung mag-aabsent ka dahil lang sa flu. Tsaka marami rin kasing maapektuhan. Tsaka ano
rin...life. Minsan din kasi...katulad sa COVID, life and death din. Kasi para hindi na rin siya
maging cause ng pandemic ganon.

KM: Yes. Parang need talaga siyang i-take. Kasi, you’re not only protecting yourself, you’re also
protecting the people around you. So, sa tingin ko, people should take the vaccine.

What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

GM: Ahm...for me, yung factors ay...first of all, yung health and safety. Syempre pag usapang
pang-vaccine, yun naman talaga yung kinokonsider natin - yung natin and kung pano tayo
magiging sa ibang tao. Tapos dito na rin siguro pumapasok yung kagustuhan ko na mabalik na sa
old normal. Kunwari yung...yun nga, yung online classes ganyan, yung mga...di natin
nakakasama yung mga friends natin dahil nga may virus. So, ayun.

SU: Ako yung sa mga...news tsaka yung mga evidence...yung mga research ganon. Tsaka yung
pag-alala na rin para sa lahat. Tsaka yung responsibilidad mo as a person - na responsibilidad mo
na hindi lang ikaw yung iisipin mo kundi pang lahatan din.

KM: Ako ano...yung factors parang...how much research has been put into it? Tapos, how safe it
is? Tapos yung...clinical trials. And syempre yung effectivity nung vaccine.

Follow up ko lang, aware ba kayo sa mga iba’t ibang vaccines? Like flu vaccines and polio?
(According sa mandatory law na ginawa ng government na lahat ng )

SU: yes

GM: yes

KM: yes

Are you willing to take the covid-19 vaccine?

GM: for me, yes. Gusto ko na matapos tong covid na to ganyan, tapos safe na rin, siyempre
natatakot ka na rin ngayon mas lumalala pa ang strain ng covid so mas better na may panglaban
ka na rin doon.

Pero hindi ka ba natatakot na...

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

GM: meron paring takot sakin, especially kapag hindi ko alam kung ano yung ituturok na brand
sa akin, kungware, kasi ako, Pfizer or Moderna ang gusto ko pero.. if kung iba yung tinurok sa
akin syempre matatakot ako baka may ibang side effects to baka hindi naman pala effective siya.

SU: ako, yes, pero depende rin sa brand. siba nga nila, vaccine matagal siya bago magawa, eh..
yung vaccine ng covid parang parang year, one year lang siyang nagawa, pero siyempre, para rin
safe lahat, gusto ko na din kaso depende pa rin sa brand kase...tsaka yung mga evidences nila na
effective... depende doon.

KM: ako rin, depende rin sa brand tapos, kung mataas ang effectivity rate niya tsaka doon na rin
sa evidence, gusto ko maganap.

Since 18 and above na kayo, without your parents consent, magpapa vaccine paba kayo?

GM: for me, oo, pero depende siya vaccine.

SU: yes rin

So kahit walang paalam sa parents?

SU: hindi pala, siyempre… sa condition ko kasi… alam mo na

KM: feeling ko hindi papayag si mommy mag-vaccine ako kung hindi pa siya magpapa-vaccine

____________________________________________________________________________

GROUP 2

Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

MS: for me, yes, I support the use of vaccines kase, technically, sa mga ibang diseases, ganun,
vaccines na yung pinaka-way para malabanan ng katawan natin yung virus na yon.

WF: yes, i support dahil marami na ring mga sakit before na nap-prevent ng mga nadevelop na
vaccines.

Vaccines in general. Willing pa rin ba kayong magtake nung mga ganong vaccines or
sinusupport mo pa rin ba yung mga vaccines na yun? For example, flu vaccines or polio?

WF: yes
MS: yes

Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

MS: I think it is important to be vaccinated because, as I said earlier na yung mga vaccines na
tinetake natin noong bata pa, kailangan na agad natin yun para maprevent na yung pag-iinfect sa
atin yung certain diseases na yon sa katawan natin.

WF: yes pa rin since yun nga para ma-prevent yung pag-catch nung mga certain diseases.

What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

MS: siguro yung perspective… yung mga factors.. Let’s say…syempre of course doctors, yung
mga nagsusupport sa mga vaccines na yun, syempre kasi, field nila yun so they would know if
it’s really going to help me to fight the certain virus or diseases. Tapos siguro, yung research
paper na rin na nag-stastate na effective yung vaccine na to and if it’s good. Pinaka last siguro is
yung proofs, proofs na effective yung vaccine na yon, let’s say na siguro, a person testimony
doon sa mga nauna na nagtake ng vaccine.

WF: first and foremost yung mismong facts na effective talaga siya based on research ganun.
another is dahil nga I have a high belief in science, especially in the field of medicine. i guess
factor na rin yung coming from a medical background

Aware ba kayo sa iba’t ibang manufacturers ng covid-19 vaccine and paano kayong naging
aware?

MS: yes, aware, pero hindi ganun… yung mga specifics, hindi ko masyadong matandaan lahat,
and naging aware ako doon syempre sa news outlets and for public information, doon ko
nalaman sa mga post sa social media kung ano-ano yung mga... let’s say yung price, efficacy,
efficiency.

But not to the point na i-reresearch mo yung tungkol doon sa vaccine na inyo

MS: hindi sa ganong point.

WF: aware, but a few lang siguro dahil sa news, social media, and napag uusapan din minsan as
a family.

Are you willing to take the covid-19 vaccine?

MS: for me siguro, depends sa manufacturers. Hindi naman lahat ng vaccine available around the
world… let’s say, Pfizer versus Sinovac, depende na rin sa comments nung, first and foremost, sa
health professionals and doon sa mga tao, tapos i-coconsider pa naman yung pricing. For me, it
all depends given the situation I am in and depending what type of vaccine available.

WF: same with miggy, naka depend din sa manufacturer nung vaccine. if may trust ako dun sa
brand na kukunin kong vaccine, i would take it

Since 18 and above na kayo, without your parents consent, magpapa vaccine paba kayo?

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

MS: ako.. Hindi, I won’t take it. kasi, it’s still risky diba, let’s say kung.. Hindi naman 100% na
effective yung vaccine na kukuhanin ko, may chance parin, nagpavaccine ako na hindi nila alam
tapos lumabas, tapos na-infect ako ng covid, tapos umiwi ako sa bahay, de ang laki ng risk na
ma-infect din sila which is, not a good thing.

WF: yes, pero before taking i will do extensive research muna kung ano safest brand and ano
effects ganun cause id rather take the risk of possibly being safe kaysa sa wala akong panlaban sa
virus.
Paano nakaka-influence yung government sa pagtake ng covid-19 vaccine?
MS: ako siguro… parang hindi ako mag-dadalawang isp na mag-research pa further doon sa mga
information na binibigay ng government...kase sa mga...recently, yung mga ibang information
binibigay nila is inaacurate o kaya pabago-bago, kaya ang hirap, i-trust ang government sa mga
binibigay nilang information ngayon lalo na sa mga vaccines, so, hindi masyadong
nakaka-influcence yung government. Let’s say na ayon, nagsabi sila ng info, ok pero mas
magtitiwala ako doon sa mga iba pang credible sources na mahahanap ko.

WF: for me, wala akong tiwala sa govt. esp w the case of the vaccines na may corruption din and
personal desire yung mga officials sa budget, hirap akong magtrust sakanila. kaya yun personally
hindi sila nakaka influence sa akin kasi hindi ko sila pinakikinggan, i rely more on the
information i know and that is from more credible people in the medical field.

____________________________________________________________________________

GROUP 3

Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

AE: Yes, I support vaccines. Kase it’s a social responsibility.

Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?
AE: Yes, especially sa children kase they are very prone to have life-threatening diseases.
for seniors? Is it still necessary to be vaccinated?
AE: with older people… siguro maybe, kase mas marami na ang factors pagrating na sa senior
citizen na baka mamaya hindi kayanin ng kanilang health yung vaccines.
What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?
AE: number one factor, it’s already a time-tested process, having vaccine and having vaccination
is not something new, matagal na siya nandiyan and I guess, time had already tested its
effectivity. Number 2, I, myself, vaccinated naman ako noong bata pa ako.

Are you willing to take the covid-19 vaccine?

AE: siguro… my decision might vary kung mayroon akong malalaman bago, pero as for the
moment, yes, ok ako sa vaccine.

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

Paano kayo ma-influcence? What are factors that influences you?

AE: number 1, personal conviction, kase naniniwala ako na it’s a social responsibility, kung
hindi natin uumpisahan nating yung vaccination, paano masisimulan yung solution dito sa crisis
na ito. Number 2, being the CL teacher, approve na siya ng ____ at tsaka Vatican city, if my
superiors in Church is already in favor of it, so why not.

Paano nakaka-influence yung government sa pagtake ng covid-19 vaccine?

AE: regard to government, medjo controversial kung regard sa government. With regard to
government, siguro masasabi ko na 50/50 ako, parang yung opinion ko sa vaccine is I ask more
from my friend doctors, sila ang tinatanong ko regarding this one, sinabi naman nila na okay
naman daw, so I guess okay na.
Did you have any extensive research about covid-19 vaccines?

AE: hindi ko alam kung masasabi mong extensive or intensive research is number one, I ask my
doctor friends, number 2 I ask my relatives na frontliners na nasa ibang bansa na nagpavaccine
na and number 3 I let myself be updated sa mga bagong development sa vaccine sa internet,
minsan sa social media, yung problema lang sa social media hindi mo alam kung totoo ba siya or
hindi, so tumitingin ako doon sa mga refutable website kagaya ng mga newspaper website
tungkol sa mga development sa vaccine. Yung mga ginagawa kong personal napag-aaral.
____________________________________________________________________________
GROUP 4
Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

AZ: I support vaccine because they prevent needless death on the populations, because they
make it so that curable diseases will no longer threat to children and adults alike.

KC: I support vaccine kase nirereduce nila yung probability ng death and kung i-wayway mo
naman yung “CONS” ng pag-use ng vaccine, it’s very obvious na beneficial ang vaccine for the
entire population.

QZ: for me, yes, I support the use of vaccine, especially because it’s already been tested and it is
studied rigorously by many scientists across the world, they are also transparent when it comes to
sharing the date of their vaccine and the also the possible side effects which may only happened
to a very-very-very small portion of the vacinees. When it comes to the safety of the vaccines,
then definitely it is very safe.

CA: I fully the use of vaccine because of the reasons that was stated earlier. It’s pretty sure it’s a
very ground-breaking scientific discovery that such of… discovery was made in order to prevent
needed deaths and also just to save more human lifes. And I guess, that why I completely support
it because of the reasons that were stated earlier.

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EDC: Actually, I agree with everyone earlier, I support vaccines, I support vaccination, simply
because it provides us immunity from life threatening diseases and similarly, kapat madami
tayong na may immunity sa life-threatening diseases maproprotectahan nating yung iba kahit
yung hindi napavaccinate. Kase malelessen yung probability na may mahahawa nung
life-threathening na sakit.

JMS: para sa akin, sinusuportahan ko yung paggamit ng vaccine, dahil kase siyempre kung
walang vaccine sa ____, hindi natin maso-solve yung problem, sinabi nga ni EDC na immunity
sa system natin, mas mainam na mas mapababa natin yung probability na mahahawa tayo imbes
na iwasan natin yung paggamit ng vaccine, kase siymepre, ang vaccine talaga ay super important
sa atin yan dahil one way din yan na paglaban sa virus or any type of virus, basta may vaccine…
siyempre need din diyan ng… multiple researches.. kaya kung pumasa naman sa vaccine na yan,
suportado naman ako sa paggamit ng vaccine para sa covid-19

Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

QZ: yes, I think it is important for me, to be vaccinated because, actually hindi lang para sa akin,
well personally para siyempre safe ako from construction of whatever virus, of the context of the
pandemic ngayon, I guess I think it is important for everyone, not just myself, so that we may be
able to return to our normal ways and to fix our economy… as it looks right now, this is the only
way for us to be able to recover, so this is the first step.

KC: I also think that is necessary to be vaccinated kase, first and foremost, as an individual, I
think it’s important to maka-contribute ka doon sa herd immunity ng isang population, which
___ at 95% of the population being vaccinated and in the way, siguro, if I show that I’m…
maganda yung perception ko towards this vaccine, other people might also take it, in return
mapoprotektahan nito yung buong population in a way.

AZ: I do think for me and everyone to take the vaccine because not only we would be helping
ourselves, we’ll also be protecting those who cannot actually be vaccinated by trying to promote
herd immunity within the population.

CA: vaccine, one the very few effective way to actually protecting the population from such a
deadly virus, such as the one we are currently experiencing right now, and it’s very important for
individual, not only me but also for, most of the people, to get vaccinated to promote herd
immunity… It really develops herd immunity and therefore beat the covid-19 pandemic.

EDC: I agree, papavaccine ako because I want to protect myself from life-threating diseases and
I want to protect other as well, kase may mga tao na mayroon allergy sa ibang components sa
vaccine so hindi sila mapapavaccinated, so kung karamihan sa atin ay pwede mapabakunahan ay
mapapabakunahan, maproprotectahan din po natin sila.

JMS: para sa akin, gusto ko rin mapabakunahan kase gusto ko rin maprotektahan sarili, not only
sa akin pero, para na rin sa iba, para kung napabakunahan na rin yung iba, yung majority ng
populasyon, mas mapapababa na rin yung transmutation ng virus sa iba’t ibang parte ng bansa.

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what kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

QZ: number one na nagkokontribute sa perspective ko regarding vaccination is literacy when it


comes to scientific knowledge, since mas aware ako sa kung ano yung tama, sa kung ano yung
objectively true, scientifically true, mas ma-iinfavor ako sa vaccination, and also, I guess, I’m
also coming from an economic standpoint since the economy is dropping, and soon we going to
___ with jobless filipino, which could also lead to ____, depression and all of that economy
stuff, so that kinda makes me, seeing as yung vaccination din yung path towards recovery, that
makes me more inclined to be positive towards vaccination.

EDC: I grew up in a household na puro health professional, so my uncle is a doctor, my


grandfather is a doctor, my mom is a nurse, so bata palang, palagi na ako nagpapabakuna. Sa
bahay palang i-explain sa akin yung aking family members kung bakit ito mahalaga and another
factos is yung akin education, from grade school to high school to college, tinuro yan sa klase
kung bakit may bakuna at bakit mahalaga magpabakuna. So Family and education.

AZ: one of the factors on my end which affected my perception regarding vaccination was my
own personal research regarding plagues that occurs throughout history. If we look at it, there are
multiple instances, wherein large chunks of the population within a certain civilization or region
were wiped out because of diseases. Now that we actually have a way in order to prevent those
large scale deaths and catastrophes from happening and I don’t think there’s any reason why we
should not make use of it and prevent unnecessary loss of life from occurring throughout the
globe.

KC: in general, positive yung perspective ko towards vaccines, number one, I consider education
to be a very big factor here, tulad ng sinabi ng last participants, if take a look back in history,
there were instances in the old days, yung hindi pa refined yung medicine natin, the entire
population were gutted down since rampant yung mga virus. Today, we actually have cures for
those diseases and I don’t see any reason at all to reject vaccination dahil supposedly eni-educate
lahat ng tao tungkol sa benefits ng vaccine

CA: for one, I do have a degree of literacy when it comes to viewing these kinds of information,
______ information and a bit of research of what vaccines are and how they work and from the
knowledge that I gained, im pretty sure it really affirms why I do support vaccines and
vaccination of the population, mayroon din ako kamag-anak na medical professional, they also
influences I guess our whole family’s perspective on these vaccination and why should we
actually take it.

JMS: for me, positive naman din yung perspective patungo sa vaccination, the reason for this is,
unang-una, norm ko na rin to, norm rin ito ng parents ko and siblings ko kase madalas kami
nagpapavaccine and meron din kami relative na nagstutudy ng medicine and may doctor degree
na, so madalas sila bumibista sa amin, so nasasanay na kami magpavaccine dahil doon sa
education na binibigay ng school, ng internet, nagkakaroon na rin kami ng idea kung bakit talaga
importante yung vaccine.

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Did you do research about covid-19 vaccines?

QZ: yes

KC: yes

CA: yes

AZ: on my end, I wouldn’t call it a research, but if what you are asking if I try to find which
vaccines are the most effective, then yes, I did do that one

EDC: yes

JMS: yes

does the research help you choose to take the covid-19 vaccine?

All : yes

so you’re willing to take covid-19 vaccine?

EDC: yes

JMS: yes

QZ: it’s a yes for me

AZ: yes, hopefully it’s from moderna or pfizer

CA: yes, except for the shady sources, one from China and Russia. Hindi pa dumaan sa proper
trialing.

How does the government information about covid-19 vaccines influences you, sa pagtake
ng covid-19 vaccines.

KC: right now, I have zero trust for recurrent administration, so magrerelay ako sa, siyempre sa
ibang bansa, yung review nila vaccines and how it affecting them and of course, yung mga
napupublish na world wide data, hindi lang naman tayo in-close sa sarili nating bansa, other
countries have gotten the vaccine and used the vaccine so I guess why not use that as a reference
point then, so I don’t necessary let our government influences me.

AZ: I wouldn’t exactly trust the government to give information regarding the vaccines because
I’m certain they also have other motives asides from just the health of the _____, such as,
economic reasons for choosing chinovac over other vaccines, I guess I would much better trust
organizations such as TCVC or the world health organization to give me information about
which vaccines are actually effective and which one should I actually take.

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CA: the Philippine government doesn’t necessarily ____ covid-19 vaccines but they do, make
me weary about the things I shouldn’t take… I rather trust an international source and from
international health organizations on what are the most effective vaccine to take and hopefully
those are the one I do get.

QZ: as for me, the government hasn’t influenced me at all, kung kukuha ba ako ng vaccine or
not, it’s purely from my own research from other sources outside Philippines and I guess in
general, I think the government isn’t really doing a good job when it comes to… well yung
ginagawa, atleast yung mga napapansin ko na ginagawa ng government with regards to covid-19
is that they just show efficacy, and then magkano natin kunin, how many, when, that’s good pero
I think the more concerning factor na dapat nilang i-address is the number of misinformation na
kumakalat din sa social media when it comes to knowledge about the vaccine especially na time
na marami ang conspiracy theories na kumakalat, I think they have to focus more in that regard
especially , considering na may lumabas din na survey na halos 50% of the surveyed filipino is
not willing to take a vaccine, and I’m guessing that’s a big concern, kase to reach herd immunity,
you need atleast 50%, yung 50% nay an is estimated payan, it could be more na hindi gusto
kumuha ng vaccine, I guess this hesitancy pagdating sa vaccine stems from misinformation and
lack of information when it comes to vaccine, their safety and their effects. I think they should
make strides on that factors.

EDC: I have zero trust in for our government because the concept of the pandemic, time and
again, they have proven their priority is not really the health and safety of the filipino people but
their own selfish interest, for example, malinaw __________ na 50% efficacy lang siya. For me,
kase sa social media kung nabasa mo, marami magsasabi na kunwari, “bobo, tanga daw yung
nasa government, prinopromote nila to, yung chinovac, kahit 50% lang yung efficacy.” For me
hindi sila tanga at bobo, if you will look at the educational background of our government
official, matataas yung pinag-aralan nila, for example si Duque nakapag-aral yan sa abroad, nag
presue payan sa high studies bukod sa medicine, pati rin yung iba nating officials, may nag-aral
sa Harvard, ___ sa ibang magagandang schools pero ganito parin, bakit? Kase inuuna nila ay
yung kanilang political interest, kagaya ng goberyno, ang alam naman natin na talaga kumikiling
sila sa tsina, kahit na yung bakuna na galing sa tsina, hindi naman siya ganun ka-epektibo
patuloy parin nila prino-promote. For me, yung nakaktakot, kase matatalino yung mga tao sa
goberyno, edukado sila, nag-iisip sila pero hindi para sa atin, hindi para sa health and safety natin
kung di para sa kanila personal interest, kaya, instead of relaying on the information of the
government, just like the others before me, I prefer consult refutable sources, particularly yung
pag-aaral na nagawa tungkol sa vaccine na ito yung mga scientifiko.

JMS: wala akong trust sa government, sabi nga ni EDC and other people, na selfish sila sa
kanilang interest, mostly naka focus sila sa politics so, hindi ko babase sa gobyerno ng pilipinas
pero…gusto ko rin gayahin ng bansa natin yung ibang country na nagbibigay na mas maayos na
information, procedures patungo sa vaccine para sa covid-19. Dapat makaprovide sila na mas
magandang statistics para doon sa, either positive or negative effects of vaccines like yung
chinovac.

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The QC government is going to offer the astrazeneca vaccine, with that in mind, are you
still willing to take the covid-19 or no?

AZ: on my end, I can say, that I don’t actually know much about the astrazeneca vaccine, so I
can’t give a definitive answer right now.

QZ: as much possible, ang pinaka gusto kong vaccine namakuha is pfizer or moderna pero kung
kailangan na kumuha then I wouldn’t really have a problem getting sa astrazeneca, just anything,
anything basta hindi china and im pretty fine with it.

EDC: ako, okay ako sa astrazeneca, in fact, yung akin uncle na isang doctor na nagtratrabaho sa
isang malaking pharmaceutical company sinabi niya sa akin the other day na, if not mistaken,
82% yung efficacy ng astrazeneca, hindi siya kasing taas ng Pfizers at sa moderna pero
pagdating sa efficacy, for me okay na siya. If kailangan na magpa-vaccine at yung ang available
sa atin, wala akong problem sa astrazeneca.

AZ: just a follow up to what I said but if what EDC is true and that is the efficacy rate of the
vaccine, yes, I guess, I am willing to take it kung kailangan na talaga at kung hindi available ang
moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

KC: for me, I guess I would take it, kase last time I checked parang 70 – 80% effective yung
astrazeneca, so I wouldn’t have a problem taking it, 70 – 80% sounds promising.

CA: as for me, I would be also confident in taking astrazeneca vaccine since, as EDC said awhile
ago, it had 82%, specifically 82.4% efficacy also it’s made by reputable institution because
astrazeneca in collaboration with oxford university, which I think is also a really refutable
sources based for the medical vaccines and should they offer it to us? I guess I would take the
chance of being vaccinated by the astrazeneca vaccine.

JMS: as far as astrazeneca vaccine, papayag naman ako, wala akong masyadong alam sa vaccine
na ito pero ____ sinabi nila mayroon siya 70% pataas na efficacy rate na pagkakatiwalaan ko
naman kung mabigyan ako ng pagkakataon na mabigyan ng vaccine na ito.

____________________________________________________________________________

GROUP 5
Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not? & Do you think it is
important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

JB: for me, I support the use of vaccine. First of all, historically naman, proven na helpful yung
vaccine in controlling several diseases like yung mga vaccines na related to HEPA and other
diseases na hinarap ng society dati, kaya ko siya sinusupport kase scientifically na proven yung
mga vaccines na binibigay sa public or ginagamit to control several diseases. In context of the
Novel-Corona-Virus na meron tayo ngayon, of course, it’s important and necessary for the public
to get vaccinated kase ito yung isang way to help control, hindi man to make the virus disappear,
alam naman natin na according to expert magiging helpful siya to atleast have a control or atleast

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significant amount of our population na makakaroon ng immunity sa diseases na to. In that way,
mas magiging mabagal yung pag spread at pagmultiple and siguro sana hindi na magmutate pa
ulit yung virus para mas macontrol natin up until mamatay or mawala na yung recent speed and
yung bilis ng pagmumultiple niya these days or ngayon andito pa yung pandemic sa atin.

What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

JB: para sa akin, yung vaccination, yung effectivity ng vaccine and etc. it’s a thing na dapat
dinabasa lang natin sa sciences and doon nga sa mga health professionals, doctors, sa medical
sectors ng society natin kase yun naman yung institution na credited na reliable para pagbasehan
natin tungkol sa mga effectivity ng vaccine at etc. Nagiging problematic for me, sa case ng
Philippines, kung titignan natin yung statistics, mababa yung convidence natin regarding
vaccines, parang late December, nasa 49% na agad yung ayaw magpa-vaccinate. Though tingin
ko sa Philippines, kulang pa kase tayo in terms of information campaigns, information awareness
tungkol sa vaccines tsaka, psychological and historically kase, filipinos kase hindi tayo agad
ganun ka-inclined into scientific knowledges kase culturally, nag-start tayo sa mga traditional, in
terms of awareness ng tao sa statistics, sa mga scientific discoveries, hindi siya ganun kalalim sa
Pilipinas. Usupan pa hanggang ngayon yung mga _____ messages na hindi ka dapat
navavaccinate kase yung mga covid vaccine din may dalang virus din yung mga ganun, so
nandoon yung fear ng public na quaranted naman kase alam natin kung ganong ka shallow pa
yung take ng Pilipinas in terms of statistics and explanation na scientific. Nabangit din naman na
FDA and DOH on other expert na mahalaga, first and foremost, information campaign para
maintindihan ng public kung bakit siya mahalaga para atlast mabawasan ang anxiety nila, yung
fear nila regarding vaccine. Tapos second factor din dito, of course, yung position ng
government, sa tingin ko, sa mga nakakaroon ng accesss sa mga internet, sa nakakapag-research,
siyempre, factor siya nakakacontribute para atleast na may confidence tayo sa vaccine pero sa
tignin ko, sa greater majority ng public, especially yung hindi nakakapag-research yung mga
other members ng society natin at etc. Sila nalilimit din yung perspective nila sa vaccine
naririnig nila sa mga mainflucensiyang tao, for example, the government, recently, masyadong
tricky yung statement ng government in terms of vaccines, for example, yung namatay sa Pfizer,
sinabi naman ng mga scientifiko na hindi siya directly related sa vaccine, tong mga taong ito
may prior conditions pero dahil nagkaroon statement na sisensationalize some way yung mga
bagay-bagay kaya lumalala yung gravity, yung impact niya sa psychology din sa mga tao
regarding tao plus yung dengvaxia.
Are you willing to take COVID-19 vaccine?
JB: Oo, willing naman ako kase Nakita naman sa study alam naman natin na effective siya,
siguro yung magiging concern nalang diyan kung gaano kareliable yung gagawin process ng
government in giving the vaccine, ako, hindi ko maaalis yung doubt, siguro, nagiging proceso pa
ng government kase hanggang ngayon wala pa tayo reliable na information kung kailangan
dadating, andiyan na ba talaga, pero kung yung general knowledge na kung magtatake ka ba ng
covid-19 vaccine because vaccine itself, tatanggapin ko yun, yung nga, scientifically proven and
magiging helpful to contain the virus hanggang mag-dry out yung virus.

The QC government is going to offer the astrazeneca vaccine, do you have any specific
brand of vaccine you want to take or take the astrazeneca vaccine?

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JB: siguro, among the vaccines naman kasi diba, yung mga na-approve ng FDA like yung
astrazeneca. Sa akin naman, ok naman sila, siguro yung pinaka naging doubtful ako sa along the
process is yung Sinovac, kase hindi siya agad na approved ng FDA pero ginamit na siya etc, pero
siguro kung ako yun, halimbawa, sinabihan ako ito na yung vaccine tapos wala pang malinaw na
kung na-approve na ba ito ng FDA, okay na ba? Hindi ako magpapavaccinate pag ganun, pero
kung astrazeneca at tsaka yung other. Tsaka malaking factor din kasi yung navaccinate yung tao,
alam niya yung process na dinaan, halimbawa, ito galing to dito, at ito yung cold storages
iningatan namin...siguro sa tingin ko, once na i-implement na siya sa public, yun yung
mahalagang establish ng mga LGUs na lahat ng babakunahan alam nila kung saan ng galing, ano
pinagdaanan nung ilalagay sa kanila, kasi feeling ko isang side nung mangyayari ay yung
psychology natin. kung gaano katas yung magiging anxiety level ng mga tao, kase well-informed
and etc. feeling ko hindi magiging ganun mahirap i-gain yung confidence pero ngayon kasi kaya
magulo, mababa yung confidence natin kase kulang na kulang In terms of information, in terms
of explanation sa public.

____________________________________________________________________________

GROUP 6

Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

AHB: 100% yes, it’s just like the previous pandemic na naranasan natin sa Philippinas at tsaka sa
ibang bansa, napreprevent siya through vaccine, it would be better kung mayroon tayong
protection rather than waiting for the pandemic or the sickness to sink in and matatakot tayo.
Mas okay na mayroon vaccination or mayroon vaccine para maprotectahan tayo sa lumalaganap
na sakit.

Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

AHB: yes, diba ako’y nanay, kung tatanungin mo ako, would you rather have my children
vaccinated, again for protection, I might have and my children might have that sickness but yung
effect, it would not be fatal.

What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

AHB: siguro yung experience, ako yung taong pinabakunahan din ng aking mga magulang and
so far, buhay pa ako hanggang ngayon, na acquire ko man yung sickness, I have that protection
para hindi maging malala yung sickenss aside from the fact na syempre andun yung life style,
immunity, vitamins, but still I rather have vaccination kase, para sa akin proven siya, proven siya
na nakatulong para ma-immune kami, ako, sa sakit. So far, okay naman sila, dumating yung mga
measles, chicken pox… may tulong na pampalakas ng katawan at pang protekta sa mga sakit,
kung na vaccinate ka.

Have you researched about covid-19 vaccines?

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AHB: sa ngayon, base lang doon sa mg akonting binasa ko, konti lang kasi hindi ako interasado
sa gulong, ang gulo kasi, ang dami-daming kontra, accpng dami-daming question, kung siguro
kung ang diyan na talaga and I would have to choose na...kailangan ko na mag research, pero sa
ngayon, magulo pa ang lahat, ayaw ko muna guluhin ang utak ko.

Are you willing to take COVID-19 vaccine?


AHB: depends on the pharmaceutical company, siyempre pipiliin ko yung may probability,
pagdumating na yung time na yun—wala pa naman sa Pinas e’ diba? Alam ko yung meron sa
Pinas yung sa china diba, hindi ako magpapavaccine pag china, pero kapag meron na at
makakapili ka na at kung kailangan-kailangan na kase kapag next year nag face-to-face na dito
sa school or blended na, malamang we have to be vaccinated, siguro before the time comes, I
would have to choose na, and before choosing, I need to find out ano-ano yan at ano-ano yang
mga pharmaceutical companies at doon ako magdedecide ano ba yung credible diyan.

How does the government information about covid-19 vaccines influences you, sa pag-take
ng covid-19 vaccines?

AHB: hindi ako na influence ng government kase wala akong tiwala sa gobyerno, walang tiwala
sa pinipili nilang company, kung naka influence sa akin nagpavaccine, yung karanasan ko, na
ako’y napabakunahan at mga anak ko napabakunahan, talagang, kahit hindi pa sinabi ng
gobyerno, kung andiyan na yung vaccination, andiyan na yung vaccine, magpapavaccine talaga
kami, lahat ng anak, kahit gaanong kamahal yan, pinapa-immunize ko yan kahit hulug hulugan
ko yan sa pedya, papa-immunize ko yan...so kung talagang magkakaroon na, kahit ipangutang ko
yan, ipapa-immunized ko lahat ng members ng family, not because sinabi ng government natin,
in the first place, parang kung ano i-rerecommend niya, hindi ko yata pipiliin, so it does not
affect me, the government’s decision doesn’t affect my decision to be vaccinated or to choose
kung ano naman yung company na pipiliin ko.
____________________________________________________________________________
GROUP 7
Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

LB: [At this point, no. Because it’s still in the process of testing , experimentation, and under
clinical study…I remember yung vaccines, when we’re babies, we have vaccines, sinusupport
naman...yung mga chicken pox vaccines and measles at tsaka as a baby...We undergo
immunization vaccines, so I support... in general.

Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

LB: Well...in general, yes...Nung panahon because *laughs* Again, as babies, hindi ko rin alam
kasi syempre...I grew up na it’s part of the health protocol that a baby is being vaccinated with
this and that... etc.

What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

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LB: What factors? Kung in general, as a baby, noon, di ko naman alam yung mga vaccination. It
is my parents who had me vaccinated. What factors? Siguro...parent factor and health factor -
part of the health protocol na ang baby pag habang lumalaki may mga immunization. Yun lang.
How does the government information about covid-19 vaccines influences you, sa pagtake
ng covid-19 vaccines?
LB: Ah no. Not really. Kasi as of now...sabi ko, di ako magpapa-vaccine pa. Hindi.
Hindi niyo pa po sila trina-trust?
LB: Ah, not yet.

Are you willing to take COVID-19 vaccine?

LB: No. Well, because...as of now nga they are being under clinical study - they are being tested.
So pano yung mga vina-vaccinated na mga yun, those who get vaccinated are somewhat like
guinea pigs, yung ganon. And I heard also na may mga iba iabng effects. Merong
nagpa-vaccine, first dose tapos after two weeks nag-positive. Tapos yung iba...ang dami kasing
moral aspect eh. Yung...ah...part of the vaccine is coming from the cell of an aborted baby...yung
mga ganon. There are many things to--...that are listened from or sabi-sabi... sabi niya ganito ang
nangyari or eto yung naging effects, may namatay or whatever. From the first, it's still under
clinical study so yung efficacy is not yet reliable. Para sa akin lang...ano...strengthen my immune
system if I don't take the vaccine.

Nakapag-research na po ba kayo about the COVID-19 vaccines?

LB: May mga napapakinggan ako pero ang hirap intindihin kasi scientific. Yung mga ingredients
nun or kung anong nandoon. Pero merong...ano...I dont know if you have listened to Father
Nicanor (?), a dominican priest who spoke about the vaccine. Ayun, may mga sinasabi siya na
okay lang, okay naman daw yan. Tsaka may tini-test pa nga yata siya na...wala siya rito ngayon
eh, na sa US...pero parang wheat grain na lang yung kakainin para maprotect, mastrengthen yung
immune system parang ganon. But...ah...I also have a brother, actually nag COVID positive
siya, nasa California. But he doesnt believe in the vaccine. Pero may pinapakinggan siyang
ano...if you want to check, lifesite news. Medyo mas ano yun...that’s true. Parang mas may
katotohanan tsaka mas catholic point of view nun. Unlike yung mga CNN *laughs* joke lang
*laughs* Pero yung mga lifesite news, maganda rin yung mga sinasabi. It is good to hear from
different....[perspective]. Mag didisisyon ka rin talaga kung ano yung tama or alin ang may
katotohanan ganon.

____________________________________________________________________________
GROUP 8

Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

JT: Yes..because, I think that is necessary especially for the wellness of all people.

Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

JT: Both. It is important because...a pandemic is existing right now...whether it’s not COVID.
Any virus or disease...that could affect everyone...so vaccines are a necessity—it is important.
Kamukha niyan...this (covid-19) really affects the lives of people.

What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

JT: First and foremost, syempre we consider the integrity of the developer. They’re the ones who
really know what they’re doing...these aren’t just done by the common people; this keeps the
confidence and trust to whom it (vaccine) may be administered, to people in general. Next would
be the efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of such medicine and/or vaccine.

Are you willing to take COVID-19 vaccine?

JT: Yes, again, as I’ve said, this is for our protection...not only for myself, but also for my
family—my loved ones, I don’t want them to get/have this virus because, as they’ve (experts)
said, the transmission rate of this virus if rapid and uncontrollable and we would not know if we
already have this virus or not. We would not know if we are the carrier and it is possible that we
could transmit it to any member of the family...so...I think it is a necessity to take this vaccine

Are you willing to get your children vaccinated?

JT: Yes, just like I’ve mentioned previously, we might not know whether we have the virus or
not. With that, it is better to get everyone in the family vaccinated for each and everyone’s safety
na rin.

____________________________________________________________________________

GROUP 9

Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

CT: Yes...for prevention ng mga sickness

Do you think it is important or necessary to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

CT: Yes...for prevention nga rin...syempre

What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

CT: Brand, effectiveness, and safety.

How does the government information about covid-19 vaccines influences you, sa pagtake
ng covid-19 vaccines.

CT: Medyo iba iba kasi...kay Durterte iba yung sinasabi...kay Roque iba yung sinasabi...si
Duque so parang di consistent kaya hindi ako nagpapainfluence sakanila.

Are you willing to take COVID-19 vaccine?

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

CT: Yes...Pfizer.

Have you done any research about the COVID-19 vaccine?

CT: No.

San galing yung information mo sa Pfizer?

CT: Alam ko lang [laughs]...ano...sa news diba...yun lang pero di ako nag-r-research

Are you willing to get your children vaccinated?

CT: Of course. However, it depends kasi kunware yung ate mo sa hospital Moderna yung
gagamitin sa kanila tas yung isa mo pang ate sa Congress, sinopharm ata yung gagamitin
sakanila kaya ganun.

TP: Alright, for the first question, do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no,
why not?

BP: Yes, I support the use of vaccines because they are necessary to reduce the risks of getting
diseases.

RP: Yes, I totally support the use of vaccines. I have faith in science and medicine.

TP: ‘Yun na ‘yun?

BP: Oo, kailangan ba mahaba?

TP: Hindi naman, sige next question. Do you think it is important or necessary to be
vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

BP: Yes it is important to be vaccinated because it either reduce the risk of getting certain
diseases or it makes the disease less life threatening.

RP: Absolutely, widespread vaccination means less people getting infected thus less casualties,
we are all in this together.

TP: Okay next, what kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

BP: Ah, kailangan ba marami? But for me, prevention from acquiring the disease lang.

RP: I based my decision on research, studies, data and the brilliant minds of scientists and
doctors. Healthcare and medicine have come so far. I wouldn’t have spent 25 years of my life in
healthcare if I didn’t have faith in Science and Medicine

TP: Lastly, are you willing to take COVID-19 vaccine?

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VACCINE CONFIDENCE

BP: Yes.

RP: Yes of course

TP: Follow up question, why?

BP: Hehe, wala naman nakalagay eh. Ganun pa din, to avoid being sick from COVID-19.
____________________________________________________________________________

GROUP 10

Do you support the use of vaccines? If yes, why? If no, why not?

JD: Yes, I do support the use of vaccines because it will help protect the people in other illness
and viruses, it will also boost our immune system.

Do you think it is important to be vaccinated? If yes, why? If no, why not?

JD: yes, it is important. The vaccine will boost our immune system that would protect our body
from viruses and diseases

What kind of factors contribute to your perspective regarding vaccination?

JD: one important factor that made me decide to be vaccinated is the other countries that have
already started vaccination and to help move their economy

Are you willing to take the covid-19 vaccine?

JD: yes

Are you willing to vaccinate your son?

JD: if they will be allowed to be vaccinated, why not.

How does the government information about covid-19 vaccines influence you in taking
covid-19 vaccines?

JD: the government has a 100% information drive for the people to better understand how
important vaccination is.

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